The Inner Ring & the C.C.C.

It would be a lie for someone to exclaim that they have never been involved in or observed an inner ring. They are everywhere, and come about naturally just from being social creatures. The thing is, not all people are aware of every one of them and as Lewis says, "There are no formal admissions or expulsions. People think they are in it after they have in fact been pushed out of it, or before they have been allowed in: this provides great amusement for those who are really inside it." (2) This is no doubt the sole reason for all middle school and high school drama: especially among girls. These inner rings completely determine all peoples' social lives and relationships.
The perfect example of this is a high school "clique" or a gang, because of the value individuals place on being part of the "in crowd" and the insecurity and need for acceptance. Like Lewis said, it can be extremely entertaining to watch happen. But the thing to remember is that we have those same experiences. These happen at school, on sports teams, at work, and even at church. For me, my main experience with this was my high school cross country team. For anyone who has observed this, they are familiar with the C.C.C., also known as the Cross Country Cult. This is cult like team bonding is much more apparent in cross country than in any other sport that I have observed. Because of the demands of the sport: running everyday in the summer and at practice in secluded areas, and because of the sheer size of my team, you have no choice but to be a very tightly knit group. The result of this is that cross country kids ONLY hang out with other cross country kids, well at least %90 of the time. The few traitors that there are may go down to about %50, which is still a significant number. That explains why, at least for me, all of my closest friends from my cross country running days were members of my team, even the younger kids. Running simply has a very significant effect on relationships and needless to say some intense team and individual bonding takes place. The example of my experience with the inner ring tells us that they are not necessarily a bad thing and Lewis even states that in themselves, they are a good thing. (3) It turns into something bad when it is manipulative and has bad objectives at the core.
There is simply no way to avoid them. Lewis writes that "Of all the passions, the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things." (4) This parallels the Screwtape Letters in that it can be a tool of the devil in slowly corrupting us we must keep our guard up at all times. Also, we need to remember that we cannot blame these Inner Rings, because we did in fact create them ourselves. Finally, I'd like to close with a provocative thought presented in class: If Christianity does not make you better, it makes you much worse, and very cynical and aggressive as well.