Its a beautiful fall afternoon, and the new folliage has made the New Hampshire air fresh and crisp. A man takeshis dogs leash of the hook on the back of the laundry room door, and with a little jingle the dog comes running outof the living room right to the mans feet. He clips the leash, and the dog is all over him until they get outside. Theymake for the path that starts in his backyard, but knows no end.
As they get deep into the tunnel of reds,oranges,andyellows, the path they are walking on turns around the corner of a big rock, and into to a huge black bear. The manin his red flannel shirt and North Face vest freezes and the bear bats him to the ground with his paw. At this, the 70pound dog charges at the massive bear and again the bear raises his mighty paw to knock the dog up against a tree,and unconcious. After about an hour, the dog comes around to find his owner is laying dead in a pile of dried upleaves. The dog stands up with a bit of a limp, and makes his way over to his owner. He nudges him behind theelbow as if he wants the dead man to pet him.
When theres no reaction from the man, he circles around once, liesup against the mans cold side, and closes his eyes. There are three parts to the definition of loyalty, and this dog displays all of them. The first part of the definitionis unconditional love. As soon as the dog knew what the man wanted to do, he was at his feet. The second part ofthe definition is giving up rational thought and representing whoever or whatever youre loyal to. Not only was itobvious that the dog had no chance against the bear, but he also could have easily ran to safety.
The last part of thedefinition, is the willingness to lay down and die for someone or something. The dog could have found his way backhome, but he didnt want the home without his life long companion. The first part of Loyalty is easy to understand; unconditional love. When people get married, they take a vow ofunconditional love that is very much along the lines of loyalty. Phrases like, through sickness and health, throughrich and through poor, and until death do us part are all phrases important to the idea of loyalty.
To be willing togive up your heart and soul to someone. When you give this vow, you know that your spouse has said these exactwords to you, and that you will always have a fond supporter. When youre sick, and all your moneys gone, youknow that all the time and effort youve given to this person will be given back to you. It sounds ridiculous that loyalty involves giving up rational thought just to represent the one youre loyal to, butits probably the most important part of the three. Its like the end of the movie Braveheart.
William Wallace, aScottish leader, has been sentenced to death by the King of England. If he pledges allegiance to England, he will bedecapitated. If he doesnt he will be tortured to death. Obviously he is going to die either way, but he is loyal toScotland and will not pledge allegiance to England. It would be rational thinking to get your head chopped offquickly and easily.
Right before he is to be tortured, he is offered some kind of drug, from one of his friends, thatwill make him num. , but he doesnt want it, because he wants to make sure that he wont scream during the torture,showing any disloyalty to Scotland. This is not only the most important part of the definition, but its also thehardest to stand by. There are many stories of parents giving up kidneys and other organs for their sick children.
These parents arewilling to die for their children. They would rather have their child live than themselves. They make their childslife more important than their own. This is the third and final piece of loyalty. The willingness to lay down and diefor someone or something.
Like the dog in the story, .
