I taught Julius Caesar, the famous tragedy by William Shakespeare, many moons ago while in teacher’s college. I was terrified in my preparations for the 5-week unit but still, to this day, remember fondly getting students atop desks reading iambic pentameter à la Dead Poet’s Society.

Et tu, Brute?

One of Shakespeare’s most infamous lines – so popular, in fact, that Dorothy quotes it in The Golden Girls! It is uttered by Caesar, at the moment of his assassination, to his friend Brutus, upon recognizing him as one of his assassins. Rough…

Loyalty is a major theme in the Julius Caesar. I remember sharing a graph with my grade ten class to demonstrate, visually, how frequently loyalties changed in Shakespeare’s play. And how rapidly. There were many names on the graph – Portia, Antony, Brutus, Cassius – but I cannot remember them all. I even looked for my acetate sheet (remember those, anyone?), to no avail. You’ll just have to trust me.

See what I did there?

When I think of loyalty, I always think of my dog, Titus. I had a boxer for 10 years; I brought him home at seven weeks and said goodbye to him 10 years later. He taught me two valuable life lessons:

1. Be the person your dog thinks you are.
2. Love and loyalty at the two greatest gifts you can give someone who has earned your love and loyalty.

Not a day goes by, almost 10 years later, that I don’t think of Titus. He was always there. Always present. Always loving me. Loyally. I am lucky to have family and friends who feel the same. But there’s just something about the love and loyalty of a dog.

I hope you’ve been able to find love and loyalty. With them, you can do a lot of things.