Loyalty

I just left a job after almost 8 years of devoting my life to it. It was initially my dream job. Lots of travel, real meaningful work, no politics...I thought that it will never get any better than this. I really did.
But after 8 years, the initial glitter wore off....The job became monotonous; I moved to a desk position which inevitably had some office politics. Then the only thing I wanted was to get out bad....real bad....
I came up with many half baked business ideas on how I can escape "the company"...
Hmm, the John Grisham novel, The Firm, comes to mind....well not to that extent.

It was a tough decision but finally managed to escape...Of course, like the end of any long term relationship, there is a denial stage, which I am still going through. One thing that kept bugging me was how unloyal I was. The company that gave me everything, now just for another better opportunity, I am leaving....(I am tempted to give an example of how one leaves ones wife for a hot mistress) but I wont go there.

I felt bad for a while, but then hey, life goes on no?
So, then I started thinking of what made the generations before us more loyal to their companies, spouses etc.....and I couldnt find an answer... Were the generations before us more scared to take risks? or where they more chivalrous, or just that this many options did not exist to them....