issue 235

xusichuangUID: 2653998

235"Most people are taught that loyalty is a virtue. But loyalty—whether to one's friends, to one's school or place of employment, or to any institution—is all too often a destructive rather than a positive force."

Along with the society’s development, loyalty, which is always a virtue, revealed its negative effect. I agree with the author’s opinion that loyalty sometimes can lead to chauvinism and jingoism--- destructive forces that may cause a certain community or institutions to break down. However, its positive force is greater than its destructive force.
Admittedly, excessive and improper loyalty will cause chauvinism as we have witnessed in our history. Take China as an example. During the 19th century, Chinese people have experienced a political reform called “cultural revolution”. At that time, almost all the people behaved in an extremely irrational way including idolize their leader Chairman Mao and the communist party. The nation’s frenzy of loyalty to their leader and the government lead to social unrest and more importantly the economic development slowing down. According to statistic, the whole nation’s GDP has even no significant increase at that time. When loyalty becomes frenzy idolization in a nation, it is the nation’s misfortune because people will believe any policy and regulations that the central government has made no matter it is right or wrong. That is to say, the people’s brilliant mind is erased by that kind of loyalty.
However, we should not neglect the positive effect of loyalty. Without loyalty, there would be no soldiers walking on the mountains of Afghanistan and Iraq, protecting the welfare of the United State of America; without loyalty, the bond between the worker and the firm will vanish, thus they will not work very hard and the production efficiency will greatly decrease.; without loyalty, friends will fall apart easily and there would be many divorces. Loyalty generate naturally from the long term relationship with a friend, a firm or a certain institution. It’s a spontaneous emotion that urges human beings to dedicate to what s/he belongs to. Take China as another example. After world war two and the civil war, the whole society almost breaks down. It is really urgent to find talented scientist and technicians to help to build a new nation. Luckily, there are many Chinese oversea, they make their decision immediately and come back to their mother country for service. Those people have made distinguished contributions to the rapid growth of China. Why they come back to their country immediately? Because of the fidelity, the patriotism and ultimately the loyalty in their heart that caused this to happen.
Not only is loyalty beneficial to a group or a society, but also to individuals because loyalty will give people identity. When loyalty gone, people would be aimless and they will not find where s/he belongs to. The identity as a citizen lies largely in the loyalty to its nation, and the identity as a family member lies largely in the loyalty to its family.

TO sum up, the right attitude toward loyalty should be, on the one hand, we emphasis the important of loyalty, for the reason that loyalty will help individuals provide better service for their group. On the other hand, we should avoid excessive or improper loyalty because it will be harmful.