WE have to learn to distinguish between
the two. They can look the
same, but one is good and the other bad.
Yes, we have to be loyal to
our family, country and whatever group
or institution or person to
whom we may have made some commitments.
But we should not let our
loyalty degenerate into tribalism.
Tribalism is a caricature of loyalty. It
is a blind and unreasoning
attachment to someone or something, an
exaggerated version of loyalty
that makes one unable to appreciate the
good others may have.
A person with a tribal attitude is
usually closed-minded, rigid,
inward-looking and exclusivistic in his
attitude toward life in
general. He has a parochial mind, and
his understanding of things is
usually shallow and narrow. He is quite
an isolated person. He likes
to control things and persons, and is
quite compulsive about it.
A truly loyal person, while he is
faithful to commitments to someone
or something and sticks to his
distinctive identity, is always
open-minded, dynamic, flexible and
versatile, and outward-looking. He
has a universal and inclusive outlook in
life. He knows how to let
persons and things be and to let go.
A tribal person would not know how to
work in tandem with others with
a different culture, lifestyle,
spirituality, etc. He seems imprisoned
in his own commitments. He is prone to
cause division in the world.
A truly loyal person would know how to
live the social principles of
common good, solidarity and
subsidiarity. He knows how to cooperate
with others as well as to give his
distinctive contribution to the
whole world. He fosters unity, not
division, amid the vast variety of
cultures, lifestyles, spiritualities and
conditions that people may
have.
A tribal person is often afflicted with
all kinds of insecurities,
with the complexes of superiority and
inferiority alternating in his
mind and heart. He is more prone to fall
into anger, hatred,
resentments and bitterness, envy,
vanity, etc.
A truly loyal person usually lives in
peace and confidence. He knows
he has to be humble to properly tackle
the many differences and
conflicts he would unavoidably face in
life. He would know how to
integrate them to form a useful and
meaningful unity.
A tribal person often likes to find
fault in others, and gets
entangled in the differences and
conflicts. He likes to compare
himself with others, and often falls
into gossiping.
A loyal person knows how to adjust and
adapt to others. He knows how
to flow with the times and the varying
circumstances. He is happy with
himself and with others, no matter how
different the others are from
him.
To be sure, the distinction between a
truly loyal person and a tribal
one lies on who is truly with God. Both
can appear and openly profess
to be with God. But only the loyal
person is with God. A tribal person
makes his own caricature of God.
This reminder about loyalty and
tribalism is very relevant these days
as we tackle issues especially in
politics and spirituality. It is in
these areas where the dynamics of
loyalty and tribalism is most
conspicuous.
With respect to the proper love for
country, for example, we have to
distinguish between patriotism and
nationalism. The former is true
love for country while being open to the
other countries. The latter
simply sticks to one’s country without
giving due attention to other
countries.
In terms of spirituality, we
unfortunately witness many people with
different spiritualities nowadays
engaging in unnecessary competition
and creating division instead of unity.
They foul up the environment
with their gossips and subtle attacks
against each other.
We have to inculcate the true virtue of
loyalty in everyone,
especially the young ones, and purify
those instances where the signs
of tribalism are present.
No comments:
Post a Comment