Before the puritans disembarked on Plymouth Rock, they signed the Mayflower Compact.
To us, the idea of signing an agreement and pledging our lives and fortunes to each other before embarking on an adventure seems alien, foreign even.
But I think it is one of the most important ideas you can have.
The earliest Christians came together not just by curiosity or attraction. Certainly some of the earliest evangelists like Paul were eloquent and persuasive. Certainly the message and novelty of it were surprising and intriguing. But what we read in the New Testament is that people came together, often by baptism, and often pledging all of their assets.
In short, they seemed to be pledging everything they had, everything they ever would have, for the community as a whole.
The founders at Plymouth colony signed a document. The earliest Christians were baptized. They did some kind of act to swear allegiance to one another and pledge they loyalty.
When I was working at a tech company, I became aware of how powerful politics was within a large corporation. I became aware that I was incapable of managing this complexity, and if I ever hoped to use it to my advantage, I would need others to work with me, not just on my team but across the company. I needed some way to distinguish those who I could trust and who I could offer my loyalty without hesitation, and those who I would have to hold at arm's length. I even approached one of my closest friends, someone who was pretty good at talking and persuading, and offered him my loyalty. I told him I wanted to work with him, and whatever he wanted to do in the company, I would support him. I wanted to see him get promoted and get more budget and more people working under him. The unspoken part was that I was hoping he'd honor my loyalty and help me further my career too, which I think he understood.
Unfortunately, by that time he had already decided to leave the company. I left a year later as well. I left because I couldn't find anyone else I would feel comfortable working for and working with. So I would have to set out and find another company or start a company of my own if I wanted to see progress in my career.
Throughout the years I tried to find someone, anyone, who I could trust. After 10 more years of joining companies and teams, I couldn't find anyone worthy of my trust. That was upsetting to say the least. What bothered me the most was when people didn't realize that together we rise or separated we fall. I don't know where they are. Maybe they accepted servitude and are slaving away in some distant, forgotten corner of the company. I don't know.
Regardless, I found loyalty at home in my family. I am proud that my wife is loyal to me, and has always been so, and I loyal to her. We have worked together on all sorts of projects and issues and we are stronger for it. I have also found loyalty, and reciprocated, with my immediate family. This has been a tremendous strength. We rise together or we fall separate.
This sort of loyalty becomes more obvious when you study what the medieval people were actually doing with the feudal system. Individuals swore oaths to each other and consecrated their very lives one to another. There were no nations (more on that in a second) but closely-knit communities of people who were "all in" with each other.
Nations are supposed to be that sort of thing, except instead of an explicit oath there is an implicit contract that all parties agree to just by virtue of being part of that nation. This concept, I believe, has failed because it is untenable. Just because one's parents and ancestors swore an oath to the country as a whole does not mean the next generation will, or that the country will continue to honor their side of the bargain.
If we are to take any sort of power, be it physical (strength, endurance, health) or social (wealth, political power, military power) or mental (intelligence, philosophy) -- it cannot be achieved by ourselves. Alone we are too weak. We need to rest, we get sick or depressed too easily. We are too fickle and we are too easily misled.
Instead, we must bind ourselves together in unbreakable bonds of mutual trust. I believe it must be explicit. Not that we need legalese to explain what we mean in detailed terms, but that we signify that oath with some sort of sign that accompanies our mutual understanding.
Once we swear ourselves in such a way, the sky's the limit. Our weakness is covered by other's strength. Our strength covers other's weaknesses.
Now, while I haven't made any formal declaration (aside to my church) I have made the terms clear with my immediate family. I have told my kids, repeatedly, of my loyalty to them and how that trust can never be broken. If they do every wicked thing they can imagine, all to cause me to waver in my love or devotion to them, I told them what I would do and how I would do it and how I would always welcome them no matter what. My brothers understand by fact that I will always be there for them as well. We mutually want our sons and daughters -- cousins -- to form a similar group. There's about 20 of them or so, and I hope that if they truly sacrifice themselves for each other they'll see greater success than we have seen.
I am looking to my neighbors and hopefully showing, not telling, them that I am loyal to them. One day I hope to somehow formalize this relationship, though I don't know what form that will take.
Within my church, there are people I know that are "all in" and I am "all in" with them as well. The ones who are holding back or are hesitant -- I encourage them to take that leap of faith and go "all in". I treat them, as much as I can, as an equal peer, despite their hesitancy.
This is what I feel we are missing most in our "modern" society. Men need to be loyal to each other, I think, more than they need hierarchy. We need leaders, of course, but we need loyalty more than that. A community of men who are loyal to each other, "all in", will figure out who their leader should be pretty quick. But if they cannot devote themselves to each other fully, having a leader would be pointless.
My challenge is to find a community beyond the church that is willing to accept me and that I can accept "all in".
In the meantime, I am doing all I can, working myself as hard as I can, doing so with all the intelligence I can muster, for the current group of people I am committed to.
Oh, and hiring people -- it's a religious experience. I can't describe to you what it is like to find someone who's willing to work their hardest for you, and what it's like to take them in as a member of my family. My only regret is I can't offer a better job with higher pay. In fact, right now I am thinking of other ventures I can start that would offer better positions to the people who are working for me. It's really weird because I thought it would be a heartless economic transaction, but it's much more than that.
Anyways -- that's my third thought.
