Loyalty, Friendship and Water

To different people, exactly the same word will have different meanings.

So, looking at the emotional or human relationship words like ‘loyalty’ or ‘friendship’ and comparing them to something like ‘water’, which would you think people would be more likely to agree a definition for?

You might immediately say that ‘water’ is the same for everybody, whilst we have a whole host of confusion about the definition of ‘loyalty’.

I’d disagree.

Water means something different to the thirsty in the desert than it does to a person living next to a huge freshwater lake and flowing streams. Yes, ‘water’ is the same shape and colour for both people, but the emotion and importance it holds for each will be different. For one they have to preserve every last drop and think carefully about how to find more. For the other they probably don’t think of water as being that important as it’s all around them. For one it could be death from the lack of it. For the other it could be death by drowning in it. So, their thoughts and images when they hear the word ‘water’ really are different.

At the same time, the person in the desert and the person by the lake could both hold the same view or value on the word ‘loyalty’ or the importance of ‘friendship’ could be identical. A person’s needs from a fellow human don’t change because they are in different locations. Both will want to love and be loved, and it will have a similar if not the same definition.

Meanwhile, water is something that’s always completely different.