I recently saw someone on Facebook post something like “I support the Lebanese entity X, even if they’re unjust”. That statement makes you wonder; is this unconditional loyalty right or wrong? Can loyalty actually become toxic?
Let’s consider the following scenario to better illustrate the situation:
You live in a neighborhood where a lot of dangerous criminals hang out. You were once returning home, when a robber tried to rob you at gunpoint. Your neighbor, a tough guy who lives in the same building as you do, happened to be passing by and saw what was going on. He directly rushed in to save you and knocked the robber out. You were very grateful to him, and your respect for him skyrocketed. Your neighbor took it upon himself to always monitor the surroundings of your building to make sure no criminals were loitering nearby. A few years later, you found yourself in the same unfortunate scenario; you were being held at gunpoint, when luckily, your neighbor saw you and jumped in and saved you once again. You were really grateful to your neighbor because he risked his life to save you twice. You felt like you owed him. A few years went by and your relationship with your neighbor was great. You often invited him and his family over for lunch or dinner, you helped him with favors, and you helped his kid get a job because you knew someone at the company he was applying for, so you recommended him.
In the building you live in, each household has one parking spot, but they’re not designated, so it’s first-come, first-served. In the past, each household in the building had just 1 car, so finding a parking spot was never a problem. However, your neighbor recently bought 2 new cars, 1 for his wife, and 1 for his son. Their household now takes up 3 parking spots. You often return home and find no parking spots, so you have to park far away down the street and walk back to your building. Your other neighbors are facing the same problem. You’ve talked to your neighbor about the subject, but he wasn’t very cooperative. He kept saying “well, my wife and kid need these parking spots too. And it’s better that we take them than some strangers or criminals do”. He even often keeps bringing up how he had saved you from those 2 robbers in the past, and how he’s currently protecting the entire building. He keeps making you feel like you still owe him.
What would you do in such a situation? Would you remain loyal to this neighbor all your life because he saved your life twice? Would you tolerate his injustice? Or would you feel that you have already repaid him through all the good deeds you’ve done for him during the past years?
No matter what your answer is, you should be aware that unconditional loyalty becomes toxic to us and to our fellow citizens when the entity we’re loyal to becomes unjust. Even if you don’t mind the harm that’s affecting you, it’s not always about you. Think about others for a change. Think of all the people who are being harmed by your beloved entity’s injustice.
One of the core issues we have in our mentality as Lebanese is that we blindly follow political leaders and entities and are forever loyal to them just because they defended us once at some point in time. These leaders and entities often drastically change and become unjust, yet we fail to see that, and still remain loyal.
When someone protects you or defends you, they’re technically defending justice… right? If that same entity whose mission was to defend justice no longer acts just, their existence would become obsolete. They’d become hypocrites with double-standards. If you, as a Lebanese citizen, truly support fairness and justice, you wouldn’t accept or condone their unjust behavior, no matter how good they’ve been to you in the past. If you continue to be loyal to this unjust entity, you’d be helping that entity harm other people, so you’d actually be indirectly participating in that injustice and harm. So with this in mind, I ask you now: what kind of person do you want to be? An unjust harmful person? Or a fair person who supports what’s right?
