Betrayal

     Back-stabber, traitor, scapegoat, liar, deceiver, deserter, let down, seducer, disloyal, unfaithful, forsaken, rejected. These words undoubtedly associate thoughts will negative feelings. What feeling is worse than placing trust in an unworthy source?
     Often times treachery undoes a situation - war, business deals, friendship, family concerns. Once the foundation of trust is eroded, healing is a feat of near impossibility. Nothing is worse than this. Dante's Inferno deals with betrayal in the deepest section of hell. The notable examples are Brutus against Caesar and Judas against Jesus. Benedict Arnold betrayed his position in the American Revolution to the British. Hitler betrayed his promises with the U.S.S.R. and invaded that country in 1941.

     Traitors often suffer terrible fates. While freedom and pleasure may accompany the act of betrayal and a short time after, no intelligent being would place faith in one who is noted as a betrayer of trust. If not killed, treachery is rewarded with a life of misery and guilt. Judas killed himself, Brutus killed himself, and Arnold lived in misery. The Soviet Union eventually turned the tide of the German invasion and became the key nation in defeating the Germans with a decisive push westward to end the war.
      A traitor who fixedly gains from his deception is a rarity. Loyalty, faith, trust, and confidence in fellow man is one of the brightest points of optimism for the young. The harshest betrayals to overcome are those held the dearest friends. Adultery is classically held as a painful, harrowing experience. A relationship designed to last the lifetime of both partners is instantly shattered with the knowledge of an interloper.
     Treachery hurts, supplying its status as a crime if committed against nation and politically, as grounds for divorce. Nothing heals this void. Forgiveness cleanses but cannot seal the gaping wound.

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Agatha Tyche