Loyalty

Is there any such thing today?

Loyalty has always been important to me. I have always told other people that I make choices at times just to be a loyal person. I have done this when making decisions about my kids’ sporting events, life decisions, etc. At the same time, I have noticed that I am virtually alone in the land of loyalty. I wonder why?

One story I can tell is of the soccer team situation with my youngest daughter. She and another teammate were playing goalie for their regular team and training with another team. At times they would be asked to play a scrimmage for the training team. One particular weekend there were two games scheduled for their regular team. One was scheduled for Saturday and one for Sunday. It became obvious that due to other commitments the regular team was going to be short players for the Saturday game. Both my daughter and the other goalie were offered an opportunity to play in a scrimmage for the training team, but the time was in conflict with the regular team’s game. We opted to have my daughter attend the game for her regular team out of loyalty to that coach. The other goalie opted to play in the scrimmage game in hopes of furthering their own opportunities.

As expected, the regular team was short players and had no substitutes. My daughter played in the net the entire game as the other goalie was not present.

Sunday arrives and the second game with the regular team. My daughter shows up all excited, expecting some time on the field as promised by her coach because of the loyalty she had shown the previous day. Instead, she played in goal for 3 quarters and sat for 1 as the other goalie (the one who opted to play in a scrimmage game the previous day) was rewarded by playing 3 quarters on the field and 1 quarter in net, never sitting a single quarter.

After the game my daughter asked “Why are we loyal anyway?”

I am here to tell you that is a tough question to answer. How do you look at an 11 year old and explain why she was loyal and attended a game yet the girl who didn’t attend got all the rewards? I explained it by telling her that in life we have to do what we think is right and we cannot try to control the reaction of the other person(s) involved. It s a very difficult concept for an 11 year old to grasp, but it is something she needed to learn.

That brings me back to my original question. Is there any loyalty left in our society? Do people even care about loyalty at all? I’m starting to think the answer to both questions is no.