Loyalty

Last week , I was in my home city for vacations . I met my old secondary school friends after 13 years ( courtesy Orkut :) ) . Group was quite diverse . It has captain in Indian Army , bouncer in Taj hotel , Delhi business man , Call center manager , Software Eng and Sales Manager. Somehow , loyalty came up in discussion .. For every one loyalty brings different examples .. For one it was loyalty to country , duty and seniors /peers / subordinates OR how less you change your partner on dance floor OR loyal to customer / distributors OR loyal to Adidas and Pizzahut OR loyal to promises and friends OR loyal to targets and anything else doesn't matter.

One term "loyalty" brings "different" picture to different people .. Opinions were looking influenced by profession and environment .. I found it quite interesting ..

We ended this filler discussion in few mins with rapid conclusion that loyalty is always good . Why ? Look we managed to remember each other and had a good time in this get together.. :)

Is loyalty ALWAYS good ?

Loyalty is a quality which every one should strive to develop .. Loyalty brings trust and stability in relationship . Loyalty builds up the character . Loyalty to ideas helps in decision making . Loyalty to nation brings security . Loyalty to institution gives direction , faith and motivation to work effectively. Loyalty to words earns respect . No doubt , Loyalty is virtue to have .

Sometimes , we overdo the loyalty which is not correct .. for example ... Over extended Loyalty to partner may lead to silent approval of all abusive treatments and demands by other partner . Misguided loyalty to friends may turn into group ism and may lead to group conflicts. Misguided loyalty to certain ideas and views may bring inflexibility and disrespect to other views and new ideas . Excessive patriotism sometimes cross the fence less border of jingoism . Blinded loyalty to institution may lead to opportunity discrimination and adopting unfair means in favor of institute or its people affecting other people . Institute and people may start taking undue advantage of one's loyalty and start taking for granted..

To summarize , Loyalty is important . It brings TRUST . But loyalty should not be exaggerated too much or misguided . One should be smart enough to understand when unfair advantage is being taken of one loyalty or one's loyalty is crossing the boundary lines and causing injustice to others