The Ring of Invisibility

An old man somehow ends up lost in a vast desert where East, West, North and South all reflect an endless terrain of dunes that span far into the distance, into the horizon, as if kissing the skies. It doesn’t matter who this man is, or if he is even a man for that matter; all that matters is that the scene is set for the next – important – event that will take place.

As the man staggers to lift his feet into and out of the sand as he makes his way through the barren land, he stops when he feels his foot hit against something wooden. He stops, drops down onto his knees and with his hands begins to dig out sand. A few moments later, he had unearthed a treasure chest that had – for the sake of simplifying – no lock. He lifts the chest door and his scanning eyes find rest in the center of the chest where a shiny little ring lay. Attached to this ring was a piece of paper, tied to it with a red velvet ribbon. The paper read: “This is the invisible ring. Wear it, and you shall know what you are made of”.

The man stuffs it in his pocket and continues with his journey. Three days later he makes it home – don’t ask how or why, this is not the point. Tired, exhausted, weak, and in poor condition, it took the man several days to recover his strength and health back and he decides it is time to take a look at what he found again. He takes out the ring from the drawer next to his bed where he had placed it upon his return and places it in the palm of his hand as he lay half seated in his bed. “Wear it and you shall know what you are made of…” the words resounded against the inner walls of his head like an echo that seemed to never end. ‘But what does that mean?’, he thought to himself.

Only one way to find out, he decides. He squeezes his index finger into the ring. Instantly, the man went invisible. He could see through himself. Double checking in the mirror confirmed that indeed he was no longer visible. ‘Oooh.. this is great!’ he thought to himself, ‘Think of all the things I can now do!’.

That is precisely what this whole story is about: What would this man do when he got hold of an invisible ring? What uses would he put this ring to… and how would he ultimately find use / abuse for it? This is what was meant by the label attached to the ring. “Wear it and find out what you are made of…”. It takes a ring like this, or imagining that one has found such a ring, that one can truly see what they are made of.

Would you put on the ring and go into the girl’s changing room, for instance? Would you put it on and go eavesdrop, steal important news / information, spy on your loved ones, make life hell for people you hated, use it for perverted acts, and the list goes on and on. Or would you use it for good? Like perhaps donating invisibly to a poor old man around the street corner?

I really liked this ring story because it makes you really wonder. The fact that it makes you invisible is very important feature of this ring that is very relevant in our day and age when people are, perhaps subconsciously, forced to act a certain way due to the presence of other people, or their existence in a society that judges people and their actions. Do we do what we do because others see us, and would we do the same exact things if we had this ring?

It’s very interesting to contemplate what you would use the ring to do. It is not the point of this mental / imaginary exercise to debate and share it aloud with your friends or family. What you say to others you would use the ring for is irrelevant (and most likely not truthful – or at least not entirely truthful). Contemplate this story and imagine you were the old man who had just found the Invisible Ring. What would you use it for? Do not kid yourself or flatter yourself too much with thought of becoming a Super Hero. Be realistic and truthful, and try and found out what it is that you are really made of. Be honest to yourself and with yourself.

Makes you wonder…