Devotion Defined

Devotion may be taken to the extremes. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, devotion is an ardent love or affection. However, it could turn into addiction or obsession. There is also the confusion of the religious devotion, as in a meditation, but as this paper is defining it, devotion is more so of love and dedication for someone or something. A person with devotion is committed to someone or something, gives himself or herself up to that person or thing and concentrates all of his or her attention on them or it.

To begin with, besides meditation, one can be devoted to one's religion. For example, Sarah prays every night before she goes to bed and each morning when she wakes up. She attended a Christian grade school, is attending a Christian high school and plans to attend a Christian college when she graduates. She hopes to marry a Christian man and raise their children Christian. She goes to church every Sunday, attends a teen bible class on Tuesday and Thursday nights and volunteers at Sunday school and Vacation Bible School. When she grows up, she would like to be a missionary or a teacher. This is a positive example of devotion; Sarah shows great zeal in her faith and has an earnest attachment to the Christian religion.

Secondly, one can be devoted to one's family, like Jimmy, who is quite fond of his grandpa. Everyday he visits his grandpa and helps out around his house, from cutting the grass to dusting the furniture. Then when he's done with the chores, he and his grandpa talk and play chess for countless hours. Though Jimmy has been offered numerous jobs for pay and could have fulfilled his dream of playing on the baseball team at his middle school, he prefers spending his free time with his grandpa and volunteering to do his chores. Jimmy is another positive example of devotion with his reverence and commitment to his grandpa.

Next, one can be devoted to a certain pastime. Take Sue Ellen, for instance; she's been crazy about basketball ever since her dad taught her at 6-years-old in their driveway. She played night and day and was never seen without a basketball in her hands. Whenever she wasn't playing basketball, she was watching it or decorating room with posters of numerous basketball team logos and her favorite players. She was on the basketball team in grade school for five years and made varsity her freshmen year of high school. Now, she plays for the Marquette Golden Eagles and is looking forward to turning pro after graduation. Both Sue Ellen's dedication and application to basketball demonstrates her devotion for the sport.

To conclude, one can be devoted to one's friends. For example, Janet and Samantha have been best friends since preschool and have been there for every moment, both good and bad. When Samantha had a soccer game and her parents couldn't be there, Janet cheered her on and was the loudest one in the stands. When Janet was failing geometry, Samantha sacrificed her weekend to help her study. When Samantha's boyfriend dumped her, Janet drove across town in the middle of the night, when she had a test the next morning, to comfort her. When Janet got the lead role in the school play, Samantha disobeyed her mom, so she could take Janet out to celebrate. The two girls have shared many more memories, but they were nothing compared to the one that they shared on Samantha's 18^th birthday. Samantha found out that she needed a kidney replacement and her parents refused to give up one of theirs, so when she told Janet, her friend immediately offered her her own kidney without waiting for Samantha's request. Janet showed a positive example of devotion to Samantha through her concern for her friend's need and practically gave herself up for Samantha by offering her one of her kidneys.

Taking a look at the reverse side of devotion, "the extremes"; Joe would be a good example. He works for a big marketing corporation, has three children and a lovely wife. He works hard to support his family, but doesn't know when to stop working so hard. He's constantly working, spending as much time as possible on his work, not only at the office, but also at home. He hasn't spent time with his children in years, the family has never taken a vacation together and he and his wife haven't had a meaningful conversation in months. He forgets to eat, because he gets so involved with his work and his wife has to beg him to go to sleep every night. This is a negative example of devotion; Joe's devotion sounds more so like an addiction; he's a workaholic.

Another example from the negative side of devotion is Shari. She's been dating Jack for about two years now and swears that she's in love with him and that they'll be together forever. They go to the same school, have every single class together, because she arranged her schedule that way; she goes to his house after class everyday and then she calls him the second she gets home and they talk until midnight. In the two years that they've been dating, she's lost all of her friends, her grades have dropped, she was kicked off the cheerleading squad and her parents threatened to send her to boarding school. She can't have a single conversation without mentioning Jack and doesn't think about anything else. One day she saw Jack talking to another girl and she flipped out and started choking the other girl until the girl passed out. Jack was so frightened by her actions that he broke up with her. Shari is completely in denial and continues to call him everyday, regardless of the fact that he hangs up on her. She follows him home and stands outside his house for countless hours until his parents call the police. Shari demonstrates a negative example of devotion, which seems to be more of an obsession.

Along with dedication, commitment and faith, devotion is an act of loyal love. All six examples were of people with a loyal love to someone or something, whether it was his or her religion, family, friends, pastime, career or significant other; they all demonstrated either a positive or negative form of devotion. One should find one's own form of devotion. Be sure that one picks a positive, healthy form, remembering that it could lead to addiction or obsession, which are negative, unhealthy forms; try to stay clear of those. Find someone or something that one can commit to, give oneself up to and concentrate all of one's attention on.