Loyalty never disappoints and always pays off in the long run.

Either in or out: there's no middle ground. And loyal people become authoritative and have very strong human relationships.

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Be Loyal

Don't be impatient or skeptical about loyalty. As with generosity, it's a virtue we might call "sustained-release": in the short term, it may cause some disappointment, even serious ones, but in the long run, it always pays off. And loyal people are able to build solid, lasting relationships, not based solely on convenience. They also gain authority, as they're recognized as trustworthy, capable of demonstrating consistency between what they do and what they say.

Loyalty is a virtue that improves every aspect of life, starting with human relationships, our relationships with others. Lies big and small, cunning, what is said and what is left unsaid, are all things that can provide (modest) benefits in the short term, but in the long run, it is loyalty, having a word and keeping it, that makes a person more credible, more authoritative, and more attractive. It's just a matter of time. As a virtue with a thousand advantages, loyalty knows no middle ground. Inside or out, either you are a loyal person, and therefore trustworthy, or you have a tendency to lie, and therefore take on the appearance of a dangerous person. By refusing to compromise, loyalty somehow shapes our character, and in fact the word derives from the Latin legalitas , which indicates a component of character. Not a piece of our personality, but a sort of architrave.

Be loyal

From the individual, the attitude of being taken at one's word, as a point of honor, extends to the attitude of the people. Let's not hide it: Italians, like many Latin peoples, have an annoying tendency to lie , to tell half-truths, to relativize facts. And this makes us less credible and reliable. For Anglo-Saxons, however, loyalty, however demanding, is a condition that cannot be circumvented. And those who lie, in public life as in private, pay a very high price for their lies. Think of how many ministers and powerful figures in America have been forced to resign for telling one, and only one, lie. Or think of how many years of prison are served in the United States for tax evasion, a form of disloyalty of the citizen towards the state . In Italy, however, lying is so chronic that it makes us smile ; we consider it a mild form of vice, we almost don't notice it, and we all end up, sooner or later, using it. Precisely because Italians like liars.

Benefits

Loyalty , which was once a matter of honor and self-love, two rather obsolete concepts, inspires security . A man who manages to be, in the continuity of a relationship, reassures his woman, and therefore, another convenience, is a very seductive virtue. On the contrary, the liar or the half-liar, two categories of disloyal people, appear fragile, uncertain, and unreassured. It's better not to trust. And the same mechanism occurs in friendship : a true friend cannot fail to be loyal , cannot fail to be someone we trust. Without ifs and buts. Sometimes we are disloyal not out of malice or cunning, but simply out of fear . The fear of telling the truth, of confessing a mistake, of self-critically acknowledging what's wrong with our behavior. We become disloyal in self-defense , and we cause even more damage. Confucius, a great scholar of humanity, said: " Put loyalty and trust above all else, and do not be afraid to correct your mistakes ." Indeed, to err is human, and making amends must be possible without climbing the arduous path of disloyalty, which sooner or later leads back to the abyss. Ultimately, loyalty makes us freer and more at peace with our conscience. Avoiding the morass of chronic lying means looking at yourself in the mirror with your eyes straight, not downcast, and being, even in a delicate moment, in the position of not giving in to feelings of guilt. And never mind if, sometimes, you have to pay a price , for example, keeping a promise may go against your wishes. It's a price worth paying.

Reflection on loyalty

But loyalty is not just a form of sincerity toward others, a way to maintain the trust that binds two people in affection, or the state and the citizen in public life. There is something about loyalty that connects it to sustainability. The topsy-turvy, unsustainable world is, first and foremost, unjust in the way we deceive others. The weakest, obviously. We do not, for example, take advantage of technological progress and globalization to increase the dividends to be distributed, but rather to increase, as has been happening for too many years now, the concentration of wealth. On major environmental issues , loyalty binds us first and foremost to nature and the balances it implies; we are surrounded by disloyal attitudes, commitments made but not kept, cries of alarm that reek of pharisaism . And ultimately, Greta has already achieved one great feat: blatantly exposing this comedy of deception and placing a few charges of dynamite under the castle of lies. A jolt that could only come from the energy and boldness of a girl her age.

The famous phrases

  • True friendship is made of trust, loyalty and indulgence (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Without trust, a friendship cannot hold up; it collapses at the first hurdle. And forbearance is essential to avoid getting caught up in a trivial hiccup, which, sooner or later, happens to everyone. But then loyalty is needed, the pact that truly unites two people in friendship.

  • The roads of loyalty are always straight (José Ortega y Gasset)

Loyalty has no shortcuts. And it is achieved by following a straight path.

  • Happy is he who, in the things of this world, is not forced by the circumstances of life to test the loyalty of his neighbor. (Ibn Hazm)

When it comes to loyalty, others can also disappoint us. It's not our place to judge. Rather, it's pointless to test loyalty, one of the most mature emotions in existence.

  • Be always, and remain, true to yourself: it will follow, as the night follows the day, that you will be disloyal to no one. (William Shakespeare)

To be loyal to others, you must first be loyal to yourself. Without giving in to the fragile advantages of flattery, narcissism, or opportunism.

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