The Character of Loyalty

Character Leadership - The Character of Loyalty

Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down. Respect for one's superiors; care for one's crew. – Grace Murray Hopper

Definition:   A feeling of devotion, duty, or attachment to somebody, something or a country.

Disloyalty, Betrayal, Distrusting, and Unfaithful, are the opposites of loyalty. It is allowing ourselves to characterize our desires and manipulate others rather than build them up. This mindset will quickly turn into contempt, and will cause us to disrespect and undermine our authorities as well as one another. This will lead to disputes and bitterness. The character of loyalty keeps us remain committed to those people who are important in our live. Being loyal exhibits our commitment to our loved ones and our friends.

Loyalty is like faith; it means assurance of another. In ancient times, the two words had the same meaning, and referred to one's loyalty to a person, or trustworthiness to a promise they had made. The person receiving the promise was acting on faith and trusting in that person, and that is what loyalty is mainly about. But, loyalty has another facet to it. It is also a call that we involve other characters into, such as, forgiveness, mercy, and respect. We are to realize this with people, even when it is underserved and unearned. It is also the knowledge that people with whom we place our loyalty will disappoint us. However, we cannot base our character and self image in their reaction. Our outlook on life and reaction to people needs to be rooted in mercy and forgiveness and in love, not on how those people respond to us. We are not responsible for how people treat us; we are only responsible for treating them with utmost character. 

Reflection:

Ask yourself; “Have I been a loyal person in treating my family, my friends and even my country?” A loyal person will encourage and comfort during hard times. Loyalty rides out the storms of life and brightens each day regardless of costs. In our country, we have a pledge to honor our country. In time of crisis we must not blame the government or people but continue to honor our commitment to the country by making positive contributions.

As Character leaders, we must extend ourselves to other people with loyalty and what flows out of loyalty are deeper relationships and trust and confidence from others. When we spend time and efforts to serve others, we are demonstrating loyalty, whether we are helping at home or at work. When we do well in our work, we are showing loyalty to our workplace and our superiors.  We may not always agree with our authorities and when this happen, instead of making fun and ridicule them, we should patiently correct or defend such person as a show of loyalty.