Background story: Friend of mine is a player in a multiplayer online game where they can level up characters, fight monsters together (through dungeon runs), join guilds (groups) and so on. It is like a whole virtual life. As when there are people involved there are always politics, where this guild is another guild's rival. Rivals happen when the guilds are competing in tournaments or are trying to be the top guilds. Occasionally it also happens for a reason as simple as the heads of the guilds cannot stand each other.
Ann is from Guild A whose leader hates Guild B's leader. At the same time, Ann has friends in Guild B. The question Ann asked was is it okay to go for dungeon runs together with her friends in Guild B knowing that her guild leader hates the other guild. Personally I do not see any issues since it is just a game. Then she said that her loyalty runs deep and these are real people. How do we differentiate when should we be loyal or not?
Should we really be blindly loyal to leaders? A lecturer once said that what makes a leader is the ability to have followers. A great leader can do great things such as Abraham Lincoln and they can also execute great destruction such as Adolf Hitler. Imagine if in a game, people can display such loyalty and feel guilty about upsetting their leader, what more in real life? In this case, Ann was not even going to switch guild, she merely wanted to go have fun with a member of another guild.
How many of us are trapped in such a life? The easiest example would be back in high school where there were a lot of such drama. "Don't be friends with her or I won't friend you!" =) Sounds familiar? But in all seriousness, do you limit your circle of friends due to difference in race, religion or political interest? Is it really justified? Has that person personally insulted you?
At the same time, in the current society, employers are constantly moaning about the lack of loyalty from employees who are always job hopping. But have they asked themselves why do employees job hop? If you are happy in your work place, would you really want to move? Perhaps the job market is also very much different from back then as there are more opportunities these days.
Two sides of a coin. Does loyalty still exist and is it appropriate? Loyalty is a precious treasure. It should only be given after great thought and cherished by those who receive it. If followers determine a leader, we should be careful who we follow.
Happy weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment