A few thoughts on loyalty, a virtue absent in so many. Loyalty requires the willingness to support something larger than your immediate self-interest, whether it be another person, your family, your school, or your homeland. "What has this school done for me?" "What good have I ever got from this family?" "What has the country given to me?"

I suppose the root is a lack of gratitude. The older I get the more it seems to me that thanklessness is the root of a great deal of misery and pain. We have to overlook so many blessings in order to nurse our bitterness. Benedict Arnold did not get a promotion he thought he deserved, so conspired with the British to surrender West Point.