Loyalty
Loyalty is one of the traditional virtues which gives me the most trouble these days. Loyalty is defined to include faithful allegiance to leaders, devotion to friends and family and adherence to obligations to others and it suggests a constancy even in the face of doubt. But it's hard to be loyal when loyalty is not reciprocated, when the people we feel loyal to prove undeserving, when our leaders betray us, when others seem to ignore their obligations to us. How can we honor the virtue of loyalty without compromising other virtues such as honesty? How can we be loyal when others are disloyal, when we learn our loyalty was misplaced?
Loyalty suggests good leaders, reciprocal relations with friends and family, worthwhile obligations and honorable duties. What do we do when our loyalty appears dishonorable, when our loyalty requires compromise with our principles of honesty, kindness and friendship? How do we deal with once-trusted leaders with feet of clay?
I think the answer lies in our duty to ourselves, our adherence to our own principles of honesty and honor, our loyalty to those who are worthy of loyalty, our loyalty to friends who behave in the way which led to the friendship. It's never worthwhile to behave in a loyal way which is blind to our own best instincts, to the virtues we hold most dear in ourselves. Our first duty is to behave in a way which makes us proud of ourselves, comfortable that we've done our best to lead a good life, to be loyal to our own best instincts and beliefs. To the extent loyalty conflicts with our principles, we must become disloyal, we must abandon our leaders and find new leaders, we must be ready every day to live our ideals, to try to be good people. The virtue of loyalty is no longer a virtue when we must be dishonest or dishonorable to maintain the virtue. Ultimately, we have to answer to ourselves and do our best to live up to our own goals. When we live according to these rules, we'll find good leaders to deserve our loyalty and loyalty will remain a virtue.
3-27-00
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