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Loyalty In The Odyssey

Decent Essays

This is one of the most sought after traits you can have. Loyalty is defined as “faithfulness to commitments” in the dictionary. Loyalty is keeping promises that you made. Not just promises you made to others but promise you made to yourself. Loyalty is not just keeping promises. If you are a loyal friend, that means that you don’t turn your back on your friend, you don’t talk behind their back, you are honest with them, keep the promises you make them, and support them. The other side of being loyal is being loyal to yourself. Being loyal to yourself means that you follow your heart, you stand up for what you believes, you don’t let other people change your ideas, you do what makes you happy and you don’t let other people diminish you. Loyalty …show more content…

Yes, they are similar but they are also different. If you are trustworthy you are reliable for giving the honest truth, and it is also being able to keep confidentiality. Trust has to do with what you say, what you say to others and about others. Trust is secret keeping but loyalty is more than that. Loyal people are usually trustworthy but trustworthy doesn’t really mean that they are Loyal. Part of loyalty means that they care about you. Penelope from the Odyssey is a great way to show the difference between trust and loyalty. She was the wife of Odysseus, trojan war hero, who during the entire 20 years he was gone she stayed loyal. She never once slept with another man despite the many suitors that were at her house every day trying to win her over. “Do not rage me, Odysseus! No one ever matched your caution! Think what difficulty the gods gave you: they denied us life together in our prime… I could not welcome you with love on sight! I armed myself long ago against the frauds of men” (Homer 16). She was loyal to Odysseus, so loyal that she had a hard time trusting that is was really Odysseus once he returned …show more content…

One great example of personal loyalty is Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson is the quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks (Gale). He played baseball and football for North Carolina State University and was successful in both sports. He spent his final year of NCAA availability playing football at the University of Wisconsin where he quickly earned the starting spot. His success in college led him to make the decision to focus on a football career. He was doubted by most of the NFL because of his height, they said he couldn’t make it as a successful quarterback. Despite what everyone else said he stuck with football because it was what he loved and he ended up proving them wrong. “Not only did Wilson become the Seattle Seahawks' starting quarterback as a rookie, in 2014 he took his team all the way to a Super Bowl championship. The victory gave Wilson the most wins in his first two seasons of any NFL quarterback in history” (Gale). He knew what he wanted to do and he did it. He stayed loyal to his wants despite the backlash and doubts he

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