Loyalty – Definition Essay, Research Paper

Loyalty is a complicated concept, which can be interpreted in many points of views. It is related to many other terms such as love, friendships, family relationships and many others. Loyalty is most of the time the basis of these other concepts. Without the presence of loyalty a strong relativity can never be built. Other than emotional relativities, loyalty is valid for many other areas, as well.

The dictionary defines the word loyalty as; Feelings of devoted attachment and affection. As seen in this definition, loyalty is relevant with devotion, and affection. Many people know devotion as a synonym for loyalty. This is wrong. The reason for this is, that loyalty can only be the basis of devotion, not the definition of it. The situation is the same for affection also. Affection cannot be present without loyalty, but there can be loyalty without affection.

There are of course other concepts that loyalty is relevant with. Love, such as affection, cannot be present without loyalty. A healthy relationship can only be built on loyalty. By relationship, every kind of relativity is meant. Without loyalty, the concept of family should not be considered.

As stated in the introduction, there are many interpretations of loyalty. The most common one is, understanding loyalty as a childish habit. Especially in Turkish society, this opinion is common. Often, men think of being loyal to their wives as a feminine issue. On the other hand, a more important problem is that women are not expecting loyalty from their husbands anymore. This is a very unfortunate example of degeneration of a society, because of lacking loyalty. Another misinterpretation of loyalty can be as the following. Often times loyalty is being used as a weapon against the loyal person. A bad natured person can use the loyalty of the other person against him and can do a lot of things. Trust (another relevant concept) is the key concept here. Along with loyalty, trust comes, and trust is the key to deceit and lying.

Other than emotional areas, loyalty is the key to other things as well. For example, in businesses, employers should gain the loyalty of their employees to succeed in their business. If the employee does not feel trust towards his / her employer, then s/he would not be enthusiastic in working for him / her. Likewise, if a raise is expected, then there should be loyalty. Big achievements cannot take place without loyalty between the two sides. To give a specific example, we can take doctors. Loyalty is a very important virtue in a doctor s job. A patient would definitely want to feel that his / her doctor is being loyal to him / her. The reason is, as said before, loyalty brings trust along with it, and trust is a definite idea in a doctor patient relationship.

Loyalty is a virtue that is a must in almost everything human beings take part in life. It is the key to succeeding, as well as a healthy relationship. If thought analytically, it will be understood that almost every problem occurs that concern the human beings is based on either disloyalty or the lacking of loyalty (two different concepts).