Where do my values come from?

When I really take the time to think about what it is I value in life it all seems to revolve around one thing... Loyalty. This relates to a few things, but for this purpose of this post, I'll relate it to loyalty to family and loyalty to friends. Since both of these are quite different, it is only natural that they would stem from different life experiences.

For loyalty to family, that one definitely comes from the experiences of growing up within a close family. We often would have supper together, have family outings, and all our vacations were always taken as a family (at least until the older siblings started getting their own jobs, and even then we still try to all get away). It is through all these experiences as a child that this value was instilled into me.

However, loyalty towards friends came through a much different and more difficult set of circumstances. This developed fairly early on in my childhood (all throughout elementary school) because of the friends that I had drawn close to me. These friends were very unloyal, would often ditch me, and sometimes just be downright mean. This hurt me very much and it is because of this that it has become so important to me to be loyal to my word for my friends, and stick up for them if there is any issue.