Loyalty definition paper

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 12th grade February 2008

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Loyalty There was a man, alone in his own little world, feeling as lonely as a castaway on a deserted island. In reality this man was not alone, rather countless numbers of people going about their business surrounded him while he was handcuffed a the chair in a police station. This man was a criminal, a thief, a murderer, but he was part of a family, and that family was the Mafia. This was a family in which loyalty was crucial to its survival. This man had been betrayed by another member of his family. That betrayal would demand justice, or would it? This "Benedict Arnold," the man who betrayed his friend and his family might have done what he thought was right. He turned in a criminal who deserved everything the law would allow. This man had sworn to be loyal, to do everything he could for the family, but he did the worst thing imaginable to the family--he was disloyal.

He turned in a person who would do anything for him, a person that had sworn to be loyal to the end. Maybe he thought he had a greater loyalty to the common good of society rather than his sworn family. Whom did he really feel that he should be more loyal to? When someone becomes a member of a group, whether by some initiation process or by birth, there are certain expectations. Some of these expectations are traits such as dependability, trust, duty, and the most important of all, loyalty. Without loyalty society would not be able to function. When this man did turn in his friend, he betrayed the family, thus being disloyal to it, but he was exercising his loyalty to something that was more important to him, the good of his...