Loyalty

Act 1 Essay

Loyalty is expressed as a positive and brought into this world being a good thing, and it is. However, this does not mean that there are no negative consequences for being too loyal. Loyalty is defined as honesty, love, respect, and devotion. But that does not mean that it does not have its share of problems. Being loyal to someone results in a lot of positives and negative consequences but ultimately, it is worth it to be too loyal than to not be loyal at all.

To begin, the commitment one shows is often rewarded with a good reputation, success, and trust. Loyalty is an important element for opportunities. For example, a person may get a job over someone else because they are known to be loyal and trustworthy. This then, brings them to a wide range of possibilities to further impress their boss and succeed. Also, loyalty is beneficial to not one person, but many around them. In cases when loyalty is required like during times of war, a country will always be worrying about whether its army will betray them or not. Therefore, loyalty not only brings benefits to the individual showing loyalty, but also to the person the individual is committing to. Furthermore, loyalty can cause a person to be happy because it means someone cares and to make someone happy, which leads to them trusting you. Trust is the ultimate prize for it can supply you with loyalty back, protection, or other benefits. These are only some of the many positives that loyalty brings to the table.

However, loyalty can also be a double edged sword, fore there are negatives to being too loyal. For example, when a person commits to someone else with a lot of loyalty selflessly, they often will experience loss of personal judgement and decision making. This makes them more of a slave rather than someone free. Moreover, although loyalty is not forced but due to will, one should still remember to have their own opinions and decide for themselves. An example of this would be if someone has offered to a bad deed and they want them to sacrifice themselves or commit crime, this person needs to be able to have his own judgements and say no when needed. This leads to another negative which is that sometimes people could be so loyal that they are distracted and cannot see that people can take advantage of them. If you are really loyal and someone does something that is not right, you would not want to do anything about it. If you said something to them, it might hurt them and you might feel like you’re being disloyal. Loyalty can be as deadly as karma.

Despite the many positive and negatives of loyalty, it is most fair to say that the benefits of loyalty outweigh the negatives. One reason is that a double sided loyalty will create a long lasting relationship where both parties involved are happy. It will not create tension between the two in most cases. To start, being loyal to someone not only helps you out, but the other person too. Because of this, it provides satisfaction to both people rather than not being loyal at all which might only benefit one if at all.          

With all things considered, loyalty is overall a lot like chocolate. Good for your mood, but possibly bad at the same time for your health if too much is eaten. Therefore, loyalty is almost always beneficial; however, there are times it brings negative impacts. In order to achieve success, one must learn to stop when the negative consequences outweigh the positive consequences.