lives Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Who In Our Lives Merits Loyalty?

Loyalty is an important quality.

What are possible grounds for loyalty? Who merits loyalty and for what reasons?

I see loyalty as coming from personal circumstance and experiences and ,also, from the broader context of shared values.

Loyalty also requires acceptance of people’s faults as you see them. This because, if for no other reason, so that others will accept you and your faults as well.

Here are some possible grounds for loyalty—

1. A Shared Past— I give some stock to people who were in the some of the same places I was at certain points in life. For example, people who hung out in the same punk rock clubs and bars as I did in college.

I feel these people felt many of the same things I did at that age, and that they may now be people I can trust as an adult. Also, more personally, I want my past to matter and to be recalled. I value the people who comprise my past.

Here is a line of John Kennedy’s Inaugural address that expresses this feeling—

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share: we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends.

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Corzine – Seat Belts Safes Lives

New Jersey Governor John Corzine is out of the hospital and that long road of recovery (I have a few posts on his ordeal here and here). Many trauma victims walk out of the trauma center, the place that saved their lives, and never look back. This is the problem with trauma. We, I’m a trauma surgeon for those who don’t know, don’t have a few celebs to help raise money and awareness for our cause. Everyone knows someone who has been in a bad car crash, fallen off a roof or been a victim of violence. We should have advocates out the wahzoo. It is nice to see him do this PSA.