Betrayal

 

Of all the sins in all the world, the worst one is probably betrayal.

First of all because no one can really betray you unless you trust them first.

Trusting someone not to hurt you is an important part of being around each other.

It is a little like looking at an electric stove. It is always there and when the burners are red, you know not to touch it, but what happens when the oven is on at 425 degrees? The stove looks the same until you lean on it, or put your hand on it - then you get a nasty surprise.

The fortunate thing about stoves is that if you are careful and hold your hand nearby, you can generally feel the heat radiating off of it and avoid it. 

People are not as easy to avoid. One phone call looks like another until you speak to the person on the other end, but once you answer it you can get caught up in all sorts of betrayals. One of the worst of which is lying. In order to get you to listen and be sympathetic people have all sorts of ways of pulling you into their own personal situations and some people thrive on problems. They don't know how to live without embroiling themselves in bad situations.

These people cannot admit to themselves that they created these problems, but misery loves company and they are quick to share them. They want sympathy, care, enabling, anything but a real solution, because a solution often means admitting they are part of the problem. To them this is a normal way to live.

There aren't many good solutions for dealing with betrayers. Because the main way is to avoid them and most of us don't want to avoid people we love.

It is a last resort, but it is one answer.