Definition: Betrayal is the breaking of trust or confidence leaving moral conflict within a relationship.

What is Betrayal?

Betrayal occurs when a relationship is broken, and along with a diminished relationship comes a lack of trust. It is a place where no one wants to be for losing trust is one of the hardest knocks our confidence can take.

So why do we do it?

The answer is simple. Although human nature wants us to be kind to one another we often find ourselves seeing far beyond that. It may be for financial or social gain or even a payback to those who hurt us. Life is a mixture of survival of the fittest and the morals we are taught when growing up which self-determines right from wrong.

In today’s not so perfect world betrayal is among us. Those we look up to betray us on a daily basis and so do the systems in which we live. How can we trust another being if they are laced with the negative impacts of betrayal?

Our governments, military groups, friends and family have all betrayed us in some way which begs the question as to why we keep these traitors (or some of them) in our circle. Does love over weigh trust or are we scared to stand against them.

Signs of betrayal

One of the biggest tell-tale signs of betrayal for me is avoidance. Those who avoid you are most likely to have betrayed you in some way or another. They feel guilty about what they have done and would rather hide away than face the demons which they have created. They are scared to lose your trust, but by betraying you they have done so already.

On the contrary, those who have betrayed you before your knowing my try and overcompensate by doing nice things for you and being there for you for than expected. This is natural for the traitor as their conscience kicks in and they try to ease the hurt making forgiving a bit easier.

The last word...

Many people live by the saying “trust no one”, but how can you live that life? If you are in the position to trust no one the same will apply to you: No one will trust you. People will betray you, it’s part of life and it’s your duty to weigh out the benefits of having that person in your life. If the relationship is mutually beneficial I say you should give it another shot and take baby steps in regaining the trust.

The best way to regain trust is to do a self-analysis of both yourself and the party involved to determine if the relationship is worth fixing or if it is simply better to take different paths.