I have always wondered ,if loyalty is earned. Another thought, which comes to my mind is – is loyalty relative with time and people around us. Similar thoughts come to my mind on gratitude. Are we grateful based on time and space.

The thoughts are very abstract. Let me try to explain with a few examples, which I have seen or witnessed in my life ,so far. Are we loyal to our parents ,till they take care of us. Are we loyal to organisations ,till we work in them. Are we grateful to people ,till they support us financially or otherwise ?

Another way of looking at the same thing is – Is loyalty absolute or relative ? Is gratitude time bound or timeless ? Each of us may have experienced life ,in many different ways. I am sure ,we have our own world view ,of both loyalty and gratitude.

I would like to share my views ,based on my experiences. In my book on life, loyalty is absolute and never relative. Similarly, gratitude is timeless and can never have ,an expiry date. It is not like a medicine or a food product, to have an expiry date.

While many of you may agree with my views, some may also disagree, based on your own life experiences. Life today is getting very complex and hence we need to question, some of our fundamental beliefs and values.

Recently I was reading a news report ,where a business tycoon was thrown out of his own house ,after the son took over the business empire . The father had built the business and handed it over to the son. Is this fathomable ? In this case, has loyalty changed with time?

Another conflict ,which many people go through in their lives, is – if they have to be loyal and grateful to their parents ,after they get married and settle down well in life? Does loyalty shift from parents to spouses ,as things change with time and space?

We may change organisations but our loyalty to the people, who made us successful in our career ,has to be life long. It cannot end with our tenure ,in the organisation. Both loyalty and gratitude are not saleable or buyable products. This is essence of my life learning.

In my book, both loyalty and gratitude are life long and timeless. Loyalty is absolute and one has to be grateful to your parents and all other well wishers – relatives or friends, who made you what you are today in life. You may get married and have children and one needs to take care of spouse and kids ,but this does not mean ,you do this ,at the cost of not being loyal to people, who made you what you are today.

One can love and respect parents and others, who made you successful in life and still take care and love ,your spouse and kids. One need not be ,at the expense of the other. So, I say ,loyalty is not relative. It is absolute ,with time and space.

I have a similar view on gratitude. We have to be grateful to people, who made us what we are today ,in this life and may be in the next many births, if we have. There is no time or space limit ,for being grateful. The people who helped us to be what we are today, did not do that ,expecting anything in return. But, if we fail to be grateful to them unconditionally ,for the rest of our lives, karma will hit us ,in some way, some day ,for sure.

Let loyalty and gratitude be absolute ,unless we believe it is relative and can change with time and space. The choice is ours ,to make.

S Ramesh Shankar

25th Jan 2025