Loyalty

Loyalty.
I have loyal family members.
I have bosses and coworkers that see loyalty as a very valuable character trait.

I am not a fan of loyalty.
I am not loyal.
My ex- would have attested to that.  He wanted loyalty no matter what.  That was never going to be me.
I have a problem with anyone that places loyalty to a person, place, team, idea, race, religion or even country above truth, reality, righteousness and functionality.

I am currently blaming loyalty for our current presidential campaign, our policing problem, and our "asleep-at-the-wheel" problem (yep--wake up, while we can still fix our problems as a nation).

I was presented with a facebook post that told me that if I'm anti-police, unfriend them. A divisive, offensive, choose-a-side post.  No doubt about it, its goal was made by a loyal person that can not look at a problem with blinders off for fear of offending those she is loyal to.

We have people willing to vote for candidates they can't say anything good about because they are loyal to their chosen political party.

We have people that say they know that racism is wrong, but refuse to support changing how things are because their family is openly supporters of white supremist groups.

We have bad Doctors that keep practicing because their peers refuse to police themselves and predator priests because they are fellow clerics.  We hide our rapists and scammers and bigots and other violent, unethical, wrong people because they are part of our group--they are one of us, one of ours.

I once saw a movie where a parent turned in their child for a heinous crime.  That stuck with me, not because it was wrong of them, but because I know people that would never do that.  They would, in fact, try to hide the crime, protect the grown or mostly grown child even at extreme risk to other people.

They were loyal.

Loyalty is not the same as love.  It is not the same as caring.  It is not the same as forgiving.

It is mindless.

 It is based on nothing more than "us" versus "them".

We need more mindfulness and less loyalty.

I'm all for changing the connotations of the word loyalty to mean something--well--less positive.  Use it to replace ignorant or silly, perhaps unthinking.

If you must be loyal, be loyal to goodness.  Be loyal to preserving life.  Be loyal to preserving a healthy and diverse planet full of life.  Be loyal to caring about everyone equally.

Or just use your ability to put yourself in the position of other people and don't make crazy but loyal statements just to gain the approval of your group.

Love--the love of all life--is good.  Loyalty  does not provide much value toward improving all our lives.  Just an old by-product of a world where siding with a winner will keep you alive.  Very feudal.

Don't sell your soul for your own profit and protection--give it away for the good of all.