Loyalty

By: Faith Walker

Loyalty is an important word. The meaning of loyal is “giving or showing firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or institution.” Official definitions are important, but loyalty to me has an even stronger definition. In my life, loyalty means you are someone that I can trust and someone that is kind. I want people to see me as a trustworthy and kind person, and I want the people around me to be loyal as well. I always want to always be there for the people that I love.

To me, a good friend is a loyal friend. I think that they need to be supportive of our friendship, trustworthy, and loving. I want to be able to count on them, and they should be able to count on me. I have had friends in the past that I thought were true friends but they really weren’t. They weren’t loyal to me, and it hurts when the people that you trust break your trust. I think that if your friends aren’t loyal to you then they probably aren’t really your friends at all, so just be careful who you hang out with. My most treasured friendships are ones that I can count on, no matter what. That’s not most of the people I know, but the ones I really care about.

I think loyalty is a good thing, but sometimes it can be bad. People may be loyal to their leaders, and if they are asked to do something then they will do it. You can see how this is wonderful, because having followers is important for leaders. But sometimes leaders draw others in and after you start to like the leader, you notice they can manipulate you. This can be especially bad because there are consequences in life for those who act wrong. What if you are told to do something bad, by a leader you are following? Then you will suffer the consequences if it all blows up. I think we just need to be careful who we are trusting and following. 

My parents always told me to choose my friends wisely – I think this is what they were talking about.