What’s the best lesson you’ve learned from a work of fiction?

[killamch89]

When I used to watch the anime Yu Yu Hakusho, there was a scene where Yusuke the protagonist is trying to remember his motive for fighting and then a flashback came up of him training with his mentor Genkai and she told him that he needs to find the reason why he really wants to do something, commit to it all the way with your heart and soul and stop holding yourself back in case it doesn't work out. It's something that has got me through many tough situations. What’s the best lesson you’ve learned from a work of fiction?

[The Blackangel]

That loyalty supersedes love.

The story was in a book called Wolfskin by Juliette Mariller.

 

It's a tale told by one of the characters of the story. It's about a man who was attacked (I'll call him Mike) on his way home and robbed. A passerby (I'll call him John) saw what was going on and jumped in to save Mike's life. John helped Mike up and got him back to the drinking hall he had left before getting attacked. They swore a blood oath to each other to never deny the other.

Some years later Mike fell in love with a girl, but while he approved, the girls father wanted the to wait a year. So their love grew and they spent as much time together as they possibly could. They would sing together, and he told her she had the voice of a lark. One night John came to him needing him to fight. While he had been away, his family had gotten in a dispute over land ownership and had been attacked and were all killed by the other. So they armed up, and went to kill the entire other family. It turned out that the other family was that of the girl Mike had fallen in love with. He heard her singing from inside her house. Though it broke his heart, he kept his oath to John and helped in the slaughter of her and her family. While it changed him for the rest of his life, Mike kept his oath, and stood by John until he died.

 

Loyalty. Not love.

[Reality vs Adventure]

7 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

That loyalty supersedes love.

The story was in a book called Wolfskin by Juliette Mariller.

 

It's a tale told by one of the characters of the story. It's about a man who was attacked (I'll call him Mike) on his way home and robbed. A passerby (I'll call him John) saw what was going on and jumped in to save Mike's life. John helped Mike up and got him back to the drinking hall he had left before getting attacked. They swore a blood oath to each other to never deny the other.

Some years later Mike fell in love with a girl, but while he approved, the girls father wanted the to wait a year. So their love grew and they spent as much time together as they possibly could. They would sing together, and he told her she had the voice of a lark. One night John came to him needing him to fight. While he had been away, his family had gotten in a dispute over land ownership and had been attacked and were all killed by the other. So they armed up, and went to kill the entire other family. It turned out that the other family was that of the girl Mike had fallen in love with. He heard her singing from inside her house. Though it broke his heart, he kept his oath to John and helped in the slaughter of her and her family. While it changed him for the rest of his life, Mike kept his oath, and stood by John until he died.

 

Loyalty. Not love.

Mike owed John his life. So it seems John made a blood oath with Mike to make sure he would be there whenever he needs to call on him to repay the favor. Even though the oath goes both ways, would John have done the same if he didn't feel his life was owed? 

[The Blackangel]

Yes. He would have been there for Mike as well.

[StaceyPowers]

On 6/19/2021 at 9:35 AM, The Blackangel said:

Yes. He would have been there for Mike as well.

To me, that sounds more like what love is than a feeling, anyway.

[Reality vs Adventure]

On 6/19/2021 at 11:35 AM, The Blackangel said:

Yes. He would have been there for Mike as well.

If the girl's family killed John's entire family, then they deserved to die. 

[killamch89]

19 hours ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

If the girl's family killed John's entire family, then they deserved to die. 

Agreed - they killed his whole family and didn't expect a response. The chick had to go - sometimes the best decisions are the most difficult ones.

[Reality vs Adventure]

I’ve been thinking more and more about loyalty. I’ve grown up without a loyal family. Family is supposed to be the most loyal thing. And when you don’t have it, imagine what that does to the psyche. And then you have fake patriots claiming to be loyal to country when they are the complete opposite. Loyalty is what holds marriages together. It holds country together. It holds families together. Love is supposed to be the result of loyalty. You don't love first and become loyal later. 

[Crazycrab]

7 minutes ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

I’ve been thinking more and more about loyalty. I’ve grown up without a loyal family. Family is supposed to be the most loyal thing. And when you don’t have it, imagine what that does to the psyche. And then you have fake patriots claiming to be loyal to country when they are the complete opposite. Loyalty is what holds marriages together. It holds country together. It holds families together. Love is supposed to be the result of loyalty. You don't love first and become loyal later. 

 

In my experience you can't trust anyone, not even family.  At the end of the day number 1 will always look after number 1.

[The Blackangel]

2 hours ago, Crazycrab said:

In my experience you can't trust anyone, not even family.  At the end of the day number 1 will always look after number 1.

At the beginning and end of the day number one has always been the only one that cared or looked after number one. No one cares. Everyone is alone, and that will never change. There will be the occasional alliance, but that doesn't equate to caring or concerning about others. You will be alone from the day you're born until the day you die, and no one ever has or ever will care.

It's called the human condition.

[The Blackangel]

People always call me a pessimist. I tell them I'm a realist.

[Reality vs Adventure]

I think looking after yourself is a westernized culture because there are a number of people in different cultures that put family first. They take care of their parents and live with them; marriages are based more on loyalty rather than love and last longer and usually won't divorce. Westernized culture puts personal success before family while other cultures put family before personal achievement. To them family is success more than career or money. So I think capitalism, pursuit of personal achievement, career over family, individualism, all lead to unintended disloyalty in personal relationships. But these things also enables a democracy where people have personal or human rights. And in other places they are more passive, tend to live in authoritarianism, but hold family tradition.  

[killamch89]

On 6/22/2021 at 1:13 PM, Reality vs Adventure said:

I think looking after yourself is a westernized culture because there are a number of people in different cultures that put family first. They take care of their parents and live with them; marriages are based more on loyalty rather than love and last longer and usually won't divorce. Westernized culture puts personal success before family while other cultures put family before personal achievement. To them family is success more than career or money. So I think capitalism, pursuit of personal achievement, career over family, individualism, all lead to unintended disloyalty in personal relationships. But these things also enables a democracy where people have personal or human rights. And in other places they are more passive, tend to live in authoritarianism, but hold family tradition.  

Basically Westernized culture is more about the individual and eastern culture is more about the family/group. I see it all the time in MMOs, the most successful guilds tend to have more individuals of eastern culture who will put their egos aside and work together. Western people are incapable of getting over that hurdle so there's always in-fighting, disloyalty and backstabbing.

[The Blackangel]

People can deny it all they want, but nothing is above the almighty dollar in western culture. There is such a huge demographic that would push their own mother off a cliff for a nickel that we will never get out of that mindset. Look at a lot of the games we play. GTA, RDR2, and (from my experience in the game) even Skyrim. You're always chasing money and can never have enough of it.

Nothing is above family in eastern culture.

We need to take a lesson from them. Or a whole school year.

[killamch89]

15 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

People can deny it all they want, but nothing is above the almighty dollar in western culture. There is such a huge demographic that would push their own mother off a cliff for a nickel that we will never get out of that mindset. Look at a lot of the games we play. GTA, RDR2, and (from my experience in the game) even Skyrim. You're always chasing money and can never have enough of it.

Nothing is above family in eastern culture.

We need to take a lesson from them. Or a whole school year.

It would take generations of passing on this teaching before we see any change in Westernized cultures. Westernized culture is focused on breaking up the family so that the individuals will be easily conquered.