Loyalty

"Loyalty is rare. If you find it, keep it."

There is no better example of loyalty in The Odyssey than Eumaios, the swineherd. While many of Odysseus’s servants befriended the cheeky men that were shamelessly wooing their master’s wife and devouring his fortune, only a handful remained loyal, and Eumaious among them. He cared for his master’s pigs as if they were his own, even twenty years after Odysseus left, and in spite of the fact that he no longer believed he would see his beloved master again, his devotedness toward him never wavered.

It’s easy to be loyal to someone who is present, but being loyal to someone who has been away for so long is not, and it’s a lot harder to remain loyal if you think that person is never coming back. It’s also easy to be loyal to someone in good times – but what about in bad times? It’s very common to see people turn their backs on friends, who they used to support unconditionally, when the friends are hit by bad times.

It really hurts when we’re betrayed by the people who we thought we could expect unconditional loyalty from, especially when we need them the most. So, if there’s someone among your friends or family who is with you through thick and thin, like Eumaious was to Odysseus, count yourself blessed.