Be loyal.
Loyalty is an interesting notion. We (society) are so fickle nowadays. If we don’t like “x” - we’ll leave, change, or ignore. We’re loyal as long as our needs are being met. If you have ever had a cat - and I have, so I’m an expert - you’ll know that as long you take care all of the cat’s needs, they’ll be loyal. Cats own you. If you are a dog lover - you’ll say that for the most part dogs are very loyal and probably your best friend. You own dogs.
We’ve become cats … we need to become dogs.
My mom was a very clean person. She did it all and had high expectations of what should go where, why, and how. If it wasn’t done to her satisfaction, she would do it. We knew this, and we let her do it because we thought “she wants to do it so why deny her the satisfaction?”. She allowed us to be cats. When she got sick, we turned into dogs. We saw what she did for us, and our loyalty changed … we loved her and would do anything for her.
What if we defaulted to happy, tail-wagging pups in everything we do? Get excited about dinner, walks, rides in the car, people in general … squirrels! What if we appreciated the heck out of life, and instead of assuming that people liked to serve us - jump in before they have a chance and be their best friend? Sometimes being loyal is alerting us to danger* and protecting us against predators. Sometimes loyalty looks life comfort.
To be loyal is to be a good friend in every situation.
*Some of my cats (I feel) tried to trip me in the middle of the night, and if I fell and bonked my head, I’m sure they would have been more than satisfied.
