This is going to be a series of exploration of different values and virtues. We do not know how long this will last but we are definitely going to drill into this with the purpose of unearthing those lifelong memorials that came into time and will transcend same.
Values are virtues. Virtues are not skills, but they can be acquired and developed like we acquire and develop skills. Values are Godly and they are enduring. They really are not taught in formal schools. Religious places may talk about them but not practise them as much as they preach them. Parents may instruct their children about them, but live contrary to the instructions.
And so it's difficult to imbibe parental and adult instructions because the young are schooled more by actions than by words. The young are schooled by influence more than by words not backed by compelling daily actions. The same applies in every other relationship. Example is the only form of influence and bequeathal.
Values or virtues are ideals that remain when others have failed. They are the software that run our hardware. We are worth nothing without them. The honour that leadership has failed to have is deliberate failure of personal values and absence of virtues that run the engine of our lives. This deliberate failure can be the result of lack of awareness.
Values or virtues are the fruit of our lives. We either bear the fruit of virtues or that of vices. We shall discuss each virtue or value in juxtaposition with their opposite to create a healthy balance for our understanding.
In these series, we shall explore loyalty, patience, endurance, faith, kindness, compassion, virtue, attention, and more.
Loyalty
A legal luminary and great politician once said on the floor of the senate while answering questions to confirm his nomination as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari: "May our loyalty not be tested."
On the contrary, I do think that everything, every value, every virtue and indeed every thing must go through testing to prove its worth. Christ's immortality had to be tested by death. Troubles test our peace. Poverty is a test for riches. We can go on.
Loyalty is one virtue that all men are tried for. Unfortunately, not all men truly appreciate the fact that they are being tested because they see themselves less than they expect. If you know your worth and you value your self-awareness, you would live deliberately in consciousness based on specific principles.
Whether you are in matrimony as a male or female, your loyalty to your spouse will be tested. If you are in a financial position, your greed will be tested by the almost unfettered access you may have for the money entrusted in your care.
To test a man's loyalty and credibility you have to risk resources. You have to put that man in charge of things. In doing that you are taking a risk, big or small. They may waste the resources, but you have to risk it in order to prove it. Unless you risk it, you can't prove anything. Something has to give in exchange for something.
To know whether a man can keep secrets, you try only him with a certain information. Let no other person have access to such information; and then pay attention to the spread. Observe if you will hear it elsewhere. If you want to know whether a man talks too much, you have to do the same.
Someone said, "loyalty is rare; if you find it, keep it." I do believe that loyalty is in dearth. I have seen men deny in attitude the very concepts written on their walls. For the pittance of the moment, I have seen men in politics and other areas of life, betray the positions they vouched to keep because they sought promotion to higher positions.
I have also heard and read about men, who for the virtue of loyalty that they espoused, sacrificed their lives to protect their bosses that they swore to protect. Loyalty is played out by us, swearing to our own hurt and not changing from the oath. With baseness, being light and vain, we have done everything against the oaths we have taken. What a travesty!
If treachery earned you a position, what do you think will sustain you in that position? Life is light and the practical manifestation of the truth. The light of some can be darkness because they represent everything contrary to soundness of character.
The laws of life put in place by the Infinite Consciousness run unperturbed. Do not delude yourself. These laws run regardless of any human incursions or influence. The circle runs and hits its exact spot at where it was ignited in the first place. The reality is that the law of sowing and reaping does not work without the law of multiplication. It does not only come back; it comes back in multiples in recompense.
Loyalty is faithfulness. It is commitment to obligation. It starts with you. The virtue or value of loyalty is the principle upon which faith works. You cannot practise self or divine beliefs without an avowed pledge to this quality of life.
Loyalty begins with you. Find out how loyal a man is to his own principles. Then decide if you want to play in interdependence with them. This knowledge should let you know how to engage with them.
Loyalty is the preserve of great leaders. The leaders who show exemplary leadership are loyal to the pledge of their calling. They live true to the purpose of their being in personal detriment to their own lives. They swear to their own hurt and don't change. This is the code that helps them to produce followers in their mould. They produce their kind because they were loyal to the cause.
If you have to be loyal, you have to be willing to sacrifice yourself each day in the pursuit of the purpose you envision. You become the sacrifice of the cause, whether marital, business, entrepreneurship, cooperative, or indeed any human endeavour.
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