Belonging. It is a universal emotion that runs deep into the human soul. This force drives us to seek, often at any cost, a place in the tribe. To be accepted, to be valued, and to be loved.

In 1944, amid the chaos of World War II, the legendary C.S. Lewis delivered a Memorial Lecture at King’s College in London titled “The Inner Ring.” Bombs were falling, cities crumbling, yet in that destruction Lewis offered something timeless: a reflection on our deepest social instinct, the desire to belong.

He warned that people naturally divide themselves into “in-groups” and “out-groups.” You are either inside the circle or you are not. Each circle defines itself through shared values and unspoken rules that often exclude everyone else. To get inside, you bend a little, change a little, and adapt to fit. When you finally do, you feel it, that quiet satisfaction of being one of the chosen few.

The deeper you go, the smaller and tighter those circles become. Within every tribe are sub-tribes, each more exclusive and more specific in its values, each promising a deeper sense of belonging. You can see it everywhere: in workplaces, social clubs, and online communities. Lewis warned that this longing to belong, innocent as it seems, can tempt us to compromise what is right simply to stay inside the ring.

That insight still cuts straight to the heart today. Whether we admit it or not, every one of us wants to belong somewhere.

If you have never read The Inner Ring, it is worth every word. You can buy a copy of it on Amazon by clicking here.

Belonging as a Brand Ethic

As WISP operators, we serve people who share that same deep desire to belong, to be seen, and to be valued. Some companies exploit that instinct, selling shiny promises that lead customers to make poor decisions chasing hollow rewards.

We choose a different path.

We can use that understanding of belonging to offer customers a story worth believing in, one rooted in our values as local providers. Step back from the routers, radio configs, and signal metrics for a moment and ask why your business exists in the first place.

WISPs like mine, and likely yours too, were born because Wall Street and private equity ignored our counties, our towns, and our neighbors. Our internet options were abysmal before we entered the scene. Nobody cared to fix it until competition arrived and later, when billions in taxpayer-funded fiber money lured those same corporations back to the very places they once abandoned.

The people who supported us early were the ones who bet local. They did not just buy internet. They backed a neighbor willing to max out a credit card just to make Netflix run without buffering and FaceTime calls stop dropping.

To buy internet from a local WISP is to join the “local first, main street first” crowd. It is to say, we take care of our own. No fiber line can force a customer to switch when your brand tells a story that aligns with who they are.

Our customers are the “shotgun, rifle, and four-wheel drive” types Hank Williams Jr. sang about in A Country Boy Can Survive. They believe in doing things right, standing by their neighbors, and not waiting for someone else to fix it. Our brands should reflect those same values.

Values That Transcend Technology

These values transcend technology. They make BEAD-funded fiber irrelevant. When your brand allows customers to feel authentic, to see themselves reflected in your story, they become part of your community’s “inner ring.” When that happens, all the Wall Street money in the world cannot buy them away.

WISPs like ours usually go further. We respect privacy. We do not harvest data, block services, or shape traffic to suit our convenience. We encourage IX participation, open peering, and the free exchange of packets because the internet should belong to everyone, not to a handful of corporate gatekeepers.

We roll out the red carpet for first responders, donate service to local agencies, and show up when the power is out or the tower is down. When a tornado hit our town, our techs were running generators and restoring connectivity before FEMA even arrived, because that is what neighbors do.

We also build things that big ISPs often overlook. In our case, we built severe weather camera networks for local meteorologists, helping them track storms in real time. Things which don’t provide an immediate ROI – but serve as important community infrastructure. Doing good using our unique skill-set and market position because we can.

None of that has anything to do with technology and everything to do with values. But customers only know it if we tell the story.

So tell it. Be proud of it. Do not be afraid to draw lines. Your WISP is not for everyone. It is not for the lowest-price hunters or professional speed-testers. It is for people who want the best treatment money can buy without selling out to Wall Street. It is for those who value service, neighborliness, and independence over flash and fiber hype.

Building An Ethical Inner Ring

I doubt that C.S. Lewis ever intended The Inner Ring to be read as a marketing essay, but it provides critical insight nevertheless. When used with service and stewardship in mind, it reminds us that the desire to belong is very real. You can welcome those seeking connection into a tribe that offers better choices: internet that is locally owned, community-rooted, and proudly independent. That is not immoral manipulation. Rather, that is stewardship.

So build your tribe. Tell your story. Give people the love and belonging they already crave, and stop worrying about Wall Street fiber.

If you’d like help doing that, send me an email. I work with companies to refine their brand story and align it with their values so it connects more deeply with their markets. I’d love to help if I can.