Point No: 14 : Stay Loyal

Hi everyone,

This is about the fourteenth point in the 21 rules of life that we discussed in the post before the last one. We're talking about Staying Loyal. This is not a characteristic that is found in human beings alone. Loyalty is something that is observed in various animal species. Loyalty is nothing but whole hearted adherence to a certain code of ethical bonding to another person or a country, or sometimes even God. From time immemorial, man has always observed loyalty in various forms, beginning from loyalty to the Sun God, by offering prayers and sacrifices regularly to appease the Gods whom they believed saved them from the hostilities of nature and that if they ever failed to be loyal in their faith to God, they will incur their wrath and eventually end up losing their race to the sands of time.

Loyalty reached its zenith during times of war. It was observed as a very precious token of love for one's motherland : Loyalty to the Country. And it was then that the people who were not loyal to their country were termed 'Traitors' or 'Renegades'. They were imprisoned, or punished to death. Loyalty to one's motherland was observed as a degree of supreme citizenship and something to take pride in.

Loyalty was also observed to a dangerous extent in the Crime Syndicates that originated in Chicago and Sicily. The Mafia termed Loyalty in their world as "Omerta". It was a certain code of Loyalty that they followed in order to prevent their intrinsic wars and misunderstanding from becoming an advantage to the police and the law. And if any gangster or mob boss trespassed or violated the omerta, they were not only digging their own grave, but also their fellow gang men.
Hence, Omerta was something that was considered very serious and if someone in the syndicate ever thought of breaking it, he better have his reasons strongly grounded and the holes dug, lest he find himself in one of those !

Well, talking about Loyalty in our lives, its important to be loyal to our families, to our spouses, to our brothers, sisters and friends. Being loyal to someone also gradually increases the respect that they have for us. There are several subtle ways to express out loyalty to someone. It is very important to stay Loyal in our friendship. As your loyalty to someone grows older, you will find that you can trust that person more than anybody else, even more than yourself. He or she will eventually become your confidant. Being loyal to our spouses will decide how the relationship will be shaped and also how long it will last depending on he strength that it has acquired wit loyalty. When you are found to be disloyal, you will lose the trust that others have on you. You will be looked down as an ingrate, as an apostate, as a renegade. To be termed disloyal, is to be imbued in shame and guilt, which will eventually result in falling into self pity and killing of the inner self.

It is very important to be loyal,
In War,
In Crime, and
In Love.

You know the rest...

Praveen Chandar.