I prepared two examples: Martin Luther and Napoleon. But I ended up writing too much about Martin Luther so there was no time left for the Napoleon example.(The time limit is 25 min.) I wrote 2 pages (over 400 words). Although I've read posts saying the essay with one well-developed example can score high, I'm worrying if I should stick with one example in the coming test in Jan. Do you think I argued convincingly and developed one example well? Thanks!
Should people always be loyal?
Although loyalty is considered as a virtue and a crucial trait of a good person by generation after generation, it can also have an unfavorable side. Always being loyal sometimes means being blindly obedient, which thus may foster evilness; so when the certain people or ideal which people are originally loyal to turn to the opposite side of justice, righteousness and benevolence, people should not continue their loyalty. They should not always be loyal without regard to how the people or ideal they are loyal to have changed. This can be proved in the example of the Christianity revolutionist Martin Luther.
Martin Luther, a German monk in the sixteenth century, did not continue his loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church when he discovered that the church and priests had been corrupted and materialized. The Church was selling salvation, a means for people to be saved from the sins they've done, and therefore they would not go to the Hell when they died. Selling salvation brought enormous fortune to priests, monks and the Church, but it was actually a wrongful act because salvation should had been given to people who truly regretted their wrongs and had decided to change to be better from their hearts. With much money, priests and monks spent their time to pursue pleasure. And with power, the Church controlled every aspect of ordinary people's lives. Any sin could be forgiven as long as there was money compensated. Seeing all those corruptions and wrongdoings, Martin Luther knew it was time to reform the Church. He discontinued his loyalty to the Church, and published a booklet, listing 95 things the Church was doing wrong, to criticize the Church. It was this booklet that later led to the religious revolution throughout the Europe. The Roman Catholic Church, saw the rebellions everywhere, finally changed its system, loosed its control over people and stopped selling salvation. Martin Luther's call for freedom of religion also inspired American colonists, who later drafted The Independent Declaration and built a country of democracy. Now we're living in a world which is freer than that of the Middle Ages. Religion freedom is granted to everyone, and no one would be burned for a crime called Heresy. This was all started by Martin Luther and his revolution. If he had continued his loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church even though the Church was corrupted, he would not begin a revolution, and now we wouldn't be living in a better world.
Should people always be loyal?
Although loyalty is considered as a virtue and a crucial trait of a good person by generation after generation, it can also have an unfavorable side. Always being loyal sometimes means being blindly obedient, which thus may foster evilness; so when the certain people or ideal which people are originally loyal to turn to the opposite side of justice, righteousness and benevolence, people should not continue their loyalty. They should not always be loyal without regard to how the people or ideal they are loyal to have changed. This can be proved in the example of the Christianity revolutionist Martin Luther.
Martin Luther, a German monk in the sixteenth century, did not continue his loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church when he discovered that the church and priests had been corrupted and materialized. The Church was selling salvation, a means for people to be saved from the sins they've done, and therefore they would not go to the Hell when they died. Selling salvation brought enormous fortune to priests, monks and the Church, but it was actually a wrongful act because salvation should had been given to people who truly regretted their wrongs and had decided to change to be better from their hearts. With much money, priests and monks spent their time to pursue pleasure. And with power, the Church controlled every aspect of ordinary people's lives. Any sin could be forgiven as long as there was money compensated. Seeing all those corruptions and wrongdoings, Martin Luther knew it was time to reform the Church. He discontinued his loyalty to the Church, and published a booklet, listing 95 things the Church was doing wrong, to criticize the Church. It was this booklet that later led to the religious revolution throughout the Europe. The Roman Catholic Church, saw the rebellions everywhere, finally changed its system, loosed its control over people and stopped selling salvation. Martin Luther's call for freedom of religion also inspired American colonists, who later drafted The Independent Declaration and built a country of democracy. Now we're living in a world which is freer than that of the Middle Ages. Religion freedom is granted to everyone, and no one would be burned for a crime called Heresy. This was all started by Martin Luther and his revolution. If he had continued his loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church even though the Church was corrupted, he would not begin a revolution, and now we wouldn't be living in a better world.
