Question 060: Loyalty

 

Nowadays, being judgmental is considered wrong. People tend to think that, if you are judgmental, then you are also prejudicial. However, behavior may be judged without prejudice for or against. No matter how harmful being judgmental may be, being nonjudgmental may be more harmful; it may even get you killed. For example, judging the behavior of a group of men on a street corner to be bad, possibly because of your prejudiced toward them, may cause you to avoid them and thus prevent possible harm to you.

Loyalty means having devotion, duty, or responsibility to support a person or group; however, loyalty must be tempered with judgment. Recently in Iraq a navy corpsman who was assigned to a group of marines witnessed, but did not prevent or report, a rape and murder carried out by the marines. The corpsman said he went along the cover-up out of a feeling of loyalty to the group; now he is in prison. Being loyal to a criminal is not virtuous, it is stupid.

Think of loyalty as a debt, similar to a car loan. The bank allows you own and use the car and, to show your appreciation, you repay the loan, along with some added interest to reward the bank for its assistance. In the case of a martial art instructor who has taught, guided, counseled, and helped you in your quest to become a martial artist, you want to show your appreciation by being loyal to the instructor. You want to repay the instructor with added interest by giving back more than you received. However, just as there is a point when the car loan is completely paid and the obligation ends, loyalty may also have an end date.