We live in a world that's full of constant change. We make commitments towards things, people, and places based on an original situation or at the time, our current understanding of said 'thing'. Now, when you pledge this commitment to a loved one in your heart (possibly not even verbal), in your soul, how far is too far before you let go? Should you ever let go? If you saw the true beauty at one point, is it right to divert course from that beauty because it's lost or no longer shining as bright? Does loyalty in itself justify staying / maintaining the original feeling at all costs for the sake of being loyal even though you're in pain now? What's loyalty worth ?
Ask yourself if that loyalty is worth fighting for. If the person's beauty at one point was so great that you feel it should be honored by your fighting for it, I believe you should stay loyal until the bitter end. But, is it worth all the pain? Its your own judgement call that I think should not have you looking back regretting what you did.
Everything. Loyalty is worth EVERYTHING. So you better have it. And keep it. Guard it. Protect it. Save it. Be the champion for it. Live by it and die for it.
The best you can hope to do is to be loyal to yourself and your emotions. We're all different and loyalty to that aspect of ourselves will play out differently in each of our lives. For myself, my loyalty to my emotion leads me to be loyal to people, but not necessarily ideas or concepts. Without talking about my own social relationships too indepth, I find that there is one person in my life who I have a endless love for. This is not loyalty to her as a person, but to my own feelings towards her. In contrast, another person's loyalty to themselves and their internal state may cause them to outwardly act in a very self-concerned and narcissistic way. We could surely comment on the moral implications of such a lifestyle, but in the end that person is being no less loyal to themselves as anybody else. This poses another question: Should one maintain loyalty to a person or idea if their internal state conflicts with it?
Yeah this is what I was struggling with. I'm not sure if I can even find an answer. Is loyalty just something you hold true while the situation is 'acceptable' to do so. And when the situation is no longer acceptable to you, then it's no longer important to maintain the loyalty,and thus, loyalty (at least the way I think of it) really never existed at all. Loyalty in this essence is just a business deal. What you're getting out is acceptable compared to what you're putting in -- so you continue. And if the state of affairs changes, and what you're 'receiving' is not what it used to be at all, compared to what you're putting in may lead you to be unsatisfied, and unhappy, but you may stick around because of hopes to return to that point of 'receiving'. This doesn't strike me as loyalty though, this strikes me as business. You're motivated to endure by hopes of returning to a state of your desires. But isn't loyalty much much deeper than this? When you give your heart and soul to someone you're giving them the ability to offer you so much happiness and pleasure, yet you're also giving them the ability to bring you lots of heartache, sadness, and pain. But in making this choice and pledging this loyalty...should we not stand by it at all costs, or doesn't the whole endeavor lose all meaning. I dunno.. Does true loyalty even exist anymore (outside of your own children)