An Iowa school got in trouble for this quote of the day: "My honor is my loyalty." [Source]
It sounds great until you learn who said it, and who he was talking about.
By itself, loyalty is not a bad thing. In fact, it's the "L" in the U.S. Army's LDRSHIP acronym. It's considered a virtue because loyalty is always a matter of sacrifice for someting greater. Without sacrifice, loyalty is just ... fandom. [Source: Army Values]
The issue is, "loyalty to what?" Everyone in a position of authority wants their subordinates' loyalty to be personalized. "Be loyal to *me*." This is as true for Vladimir Putin's inner circle ...
[Source]
... as it is for Donald Trump.
[Source]
Therein lies this school's mistake -- it chose the quote without understanding its context. You can't extol loyalty without considering the *object* of that loyalty.
And when a person in authority demands loyalty, consider that a warning. It's usually a one-way street.
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