“Loyalty isn’t grey. It’s black and white. You’re either loyal completely, or not loyal at all. And people have to understand this. You can’t be loyal only when it serves you.” -Shamay

In all aspects of life, I see everything as black or white. I like definite categories to define something into, and do not like things that can be loosely interpreted. Luckily for me, loyalty is not something that has much variance. As the quote says above, you’re either loyal or you aren’t loyal. You either emotionally or physically cheat on your partner, or you stay loyal. You either have your best friend’s back all the time or you don’t.

Because loyalty is one of the rare black and white items of life, we should treat it as a black and white item. This means that we should evaluate everyone in our life, and assess who is loyal or not. If someone is not consistently loyal, then we should cut them out. If we have to question if someone is loyal to us or not, then we should cut them out. If we are worried that information told to someone will be used against us in a heated moment, then we should cut them out. Cutting them out doesn’t mean that we treat them disrespectfully or spill their secrets to the world, but it does mean that we recognize that they are no longer beneficial to our life.

The people in our life deserve loyalty, and we deserve loyalty in return. We shouldn’t have to question telling significant people in our life information in fear that it will be used against us in some shape or form. Loyalty makes up part of the foundation of any healthy relationship, and the desire for complete loyalty is not too much to ask.