Redheaded Jill

I like to think of loyalty as a good thing. It’s nice to be on someone’s team 100% of the time. Even if you don’t agree with them completely you root for them and want the best for them. This can be friends, family, acquaintances, even celebrities! It can be downright comical how loyal I feel to people I’ve never met.

I have people who I have accepted into my life as a friend or mentor who I will always stand beside. Even though I haven’t seen them in years I have several professors from college who I would jump to defend at the drop of a hat. I am extremely loyal to my family. I might complain about a sibling, but don’t you dare try to chime in because you don’t get to say anything negative about my family!

I have found myself getting into heated debates over the years about politicians. (That’s hard one, I don’t see how you can be a politician and not be at least a little corrupt.) Or celebrities! I am a huge fan of Dean Martin even though I know his personal life was less than stellar. I even tried to defend Sylvester Stallone in high school after I was informed that he had been an adult film star… Why? Because I love the Rocky Franchise!

I find myself defending different influencers on social media whom I like, or foreign celebrities. (Koreans are really hard on their idols! The hate that Chen from EXO got for getting married… it actually made me super sad.) And the ballerina farms controversy? That made me so frustrated because I love Hannah and her family, even though we’ve never met and likely never will.

This can happen in religion. People might learn something about their faith or their religion that they find isn’t in accordance with the Bible, or they no longer align with but they can’t refute it openly because it means their grandparents were wrong in their beliefs. Or their parents are wrong. Or their preacher whom they love is wrong.

I think the idea is that people need a tribe. It’s how we’re made. Even the most introverted of us need something to believe in a fight for. We just need to make sure there’s a good balance. A healthy, mature person can accept that people they love have flaws and aren’t always right.