loy·al·ty
ˈloiəltē/
noun the quality of being loyal to someone or something. a strong feeling of support or allegiance. Loyalty is very strong and very meaningful, like true love or brotherhood. Loyalty has to be earned, not just given away. In The Odyssey, the epic poem by Homer, Odysseus’ crew is steadfastly loyal to him and follow nearly his every direction, even though they are given many reasons not to be. Although Odysseus occasionally does something for the short-term benefit of his crew, he does not deserve their loyalty because he does not sincerely care about them, trust them, or listen to them.
Even when Odysseus is in the middle of nowhere in a boat with his comrades and crew members for twenty years, he still manages to not care about them and think of his own life as more valuable than any of theirs. An example of this is when Odysseus sends his men into danger instead of being a leader and going first: “All I spied was a plume of smoke, drifting off the land. / So I sent some crew ahead to learn who lived there -- / men like us perhaps, who live on bread?” (10. 109-111). In this quote, Odysseus and his men arrive at a new, foreign land. The land is smokey and mysterious Odysseus questions who lives on the land -- it could even be non-humans. However, Odysseus doesn’t use his leadership position to lead or help his crew, in fact, he sends his men into danger instead of himself. This proves he doesn’t care about his crew because he will send them into the