Loyalty is something that one should work for.

Ever since I started to watch basketball, loyalty has risen higher and higher in one of my core values. People may ask how basketball and loyalty relate to each other, but it may seem that way. However, I can tell you from personal experience that it isn’t. I still remember the day that broke the NBA world. It was right after Lebron James and the Cavaliers had come back against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals. After the finals in the offseason, Kevin Durant ended up signing with the Warriors. Nevertheless, this caused a lot of uproar with the fans, as people became very annoyed, calling him a “snake.” Consequently, some would call him disloyal, and while players like him were shunned and booed, players who demonstrated extreme loyalty were always praised for not chasing wealth or showing greed. For example, my entire life, I have been a Blazers fan for one man only, and his name is Damian Lillard. Throughout his entire career, he had been with the Blazers, leading them to various points of success. This garnered him a lot of fans throughout his career. Showing how loyalty can lead to success and respect.

Problem/Solution

When loyalty is shown, it is greatly rewarded and recognized as a positive quality. For example, when someone stayed loyal to a King in the olden days, they were seen as a wise person, someone who was respected and trusted. However, some problems would occur as the knights could be poisoned with bad information and end up betraying the person they trust. For example, this happened in ancient Rome, where Brutus joined the coup to kill Caesar in the senate, while being known as one of Caesar's most loyal followers at the time. However, there are many ways to solve this issue. For example, in the Edo period of Japan, Samurai were known to be one of the best examples of loyalty. To solve the issue of worrying about their betrayal, Samurai were trained for years around the bushido code, which instilled values of honor and loyalty. To look at this in a situation, after a lord was killed, 47 Samurai, now known as Ronin, disguised themselves as ordinary citizens. Eventually, when the Ronin felt it was the right time to strike, they got revenge for the lord, showing extreme loyalty. This shows how loyalty can be preserved with the right situations.

Example

"Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles," said Confucius. This statement holds in many different aspects of film, literature, or history, but one field where it is often overlooked is sports. For example, you can see this in soccer. Throughout the majority of his career, Messi stayed with the same team, sticking with them since they helped him early on. In addition, Messi succeeded greatly with the club, which helped him hold sincerity closer to his principles. Even though he ended up leaving the team he played with in the end, he only left due to issues with the team, such as poor management of money, showing how loyalty is prevalent in many forms of media. Another example is Janisaries, who were elite soldiers of the Ottoman Empire, acting as the king's guard. Even though some might think that they would have betrayed the king, as they were those who were stronger. In fact, they were some of the most loyal soldiers ever. This most likely occurred because of how they were trained from a young age to be loyal servants and excellent warriors. Which made them hold sincerity and faithfulness as their first principle.

Compare and Contrast

Even though both words are used in similar ways, loyalty and faithfulness are two different words. Loyalty must be earned; faithfulness must be shown. Loyalty implies that, over time, a person has proved that they are loyal and earned respect, or a title of value. At the same time, faithfulness can be used to talk about someone showing that they are focused on only one thing, such as faithfulness to one religion. For example, a knight could show loyalty to a king, but not be faithful to him, as he still has other parts of his life that are more important. In the end, loyalty is something earned, while faithfulness is something shown, which is the main difference between the two.

Sequence

How can you best solve the issue of distrust in a friend? Make them have loyalty towards you, to a point where you can trust them back. For example, you tell a friend a secret that you don’t want him to tell anyone, but you are unsure if he will or won’t tell another friend. The first step you should take is to treat your friend well, and bring up previous moments where you were loyal to him, as loyalty is a two-way street where both people have to be loyal to each other. If you are still untrusting of your friend, the second step you should take is to ask him to tell you a secret of his in exchange for this, as loyalty is best kept when something is weighing over their heads to make sure they don’t falter, and while it may seem like blackmail eventually the person will forgot about their secret, and keep yours because of loyalty. Finally, if you are not sure if that friend can be trusted or not, then stop and realize that the reason you told this friend your secret is because they are trustworthy and loyal towards you.

Cause and Effect

After being found in the middle of the sea by pirates, John has only one hope to survive. This hope is to remain with the pirates and show his loyalty towards them. This is so he ends up becoming a part of their crew and can survive. While in this situation, some might say John’s mind is racing through thoughts such as, “Do I die?”, or “Side with pirates?”. However, John is thinking about when he can escape, or if he does die, what will happen to his body. Even though these thoughts might be a little odd, it is all John can think about in this situation. Finally, John must choose between two choices. Remain loyal to the pirates or die a horrible death.

Division and Classification

The story of Harry Potter has three different forms of loyalty shown throughout it: loyalty to your house, loyalty to your master, and the loyalty of a wand to its master. The first type of loyalty in the book starts the moment you are sorted into your house. For example, the moment Draco Malfoy is sorted into his house - Slytherin - he maintains the house’s values, and represents them in the manner they want to be seen as. After this, the second type of loyalty starts when you find a master, as loyalty to someone else is the most common form of loyalty shown in the series. One instance where this occurs is Professor Snape and Dumbledore’s relationship with each other. This is because even though Professor Snape cared for Dumbledore, he ended up killing him on his wishes for the greater good of the people, even though it troubled him deeply, which shows his loyalty to his master. Finally, loyalty is also shown with a wand to its master. This is shown when, throughout the series, wands won't work for others the same way they work for the original master. One clear example of this is when Voldemort lost to Harry, even though he supposedly had the superior wand, but the reason for his loss was that Harry was the true master of the wand. This made it so that the wand would not harm him, showing its loyalty to its master.