AS I STARED at the sunset, I marveled at its beauty. The scenario got me thinking about an issue a friend had brought up some time ago. It was a very ticklish matter, one that seems to perplex everyone - even the so-called professionals.
"Are people faithful?" the question replayed itself in my head. I had looked at her for a while then, and gave her a laconic answer; "Maybe, ah I don't know."
It was not child's play anymore; it was a question in need of an answer.
I was prompted to put pen to paper because of some recent developments. Developments that I never could have foreseen.
Is someone being 'unfaithful'? guillotine door Or is everyone being 'unfaithful'? That is the confusion. Even the 'unfaithful' that are caught in the act deny it. If their denial holds no water, they back it up with irrational excuses.
With each passing day deceit, cheating and heartbreak unfold; a person is geared up to deftly take 'unfaithfulness' in the face without batting an eyelid because they saw it coming. Even foresight is not enough to stop heartbreak or prevent the affected from feeling dejected after falling prey. But why should one be 'unfaithful', why deceit and why cheat?
The human being is like a machine, or rather, a programmed robot with embedded mature buttons. A push of a button displays a character trait - jealousy, cheating, hatred, love, lost, confidence, rebellion, sympathy, joy, aggression, ego, belief, unbelief, unfaithfulness, to name a few. People are animals. The only thing that differentiates them from other species is massive brain development, the ability to decipher between good and evil, to turn away from or embrace a situation, to feel and control our emotions by triggering or muffling them. The animalistic nature of humans still lives within. It only takes a push of the right button to evoke or bring to life one or all of these aforementioned character traits.
Man's 'unfaithfulness' may not have a clear origin but as far as I can tell it is as old as man himself. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defined 'unfaithful' in a brief but concise manner; having a sexual relationship with somebody other than one's lover; husband etc. According to the thesaurus, synonyms of 'unfaithful' include infidelity, deceit, disloyalty, treachery, falseness and treason. The synonyms of those synonyms are untrustworthiness, fickleness, lying, duplicity, pretense, inconsistency, capriciousness and vacillation. The sub-synonyms of those are changeability, deviousness, fraudulence, unreliability, undependability, uncertainty, insincerity, untruthfulness, double-dealing, make-believe, charade, contradiction, whimsicality, frivolity, irresponsibility, volatility, indecision, fluctuation and ambivalence.
When a loved one cheats, he or she is guilty of all of the above and should be lynched or guillotined, if I am permitted to use those literal terms. 'Unfaithfulness' deals a devastating blow to the victimized partner. They feel crushed, betrayed, like a part of them has been ripped out. They will be very angry and sad. It is not only because their partner wanted and had sex with someone else or just because their partner has shared the ultimate expression of love with the other person. It is because they lied, murdering the partner in their conscience with little regard for their feelings.
This article examines the causes of unfaithfulness, possible preventative measures and equally possible eradication processes. It is just an attempt, not a proven and/or certified cure, to a disease that is not caused by a virus or a parasite but a much deadlier culprit. The causes of 'unfaithfulness' vary from individual to individual.
In the following paragraph you will get a clear idea of my perspective on this damaging and provocative attitude could arise. In a long-term relationship, it could be easy for partners to start taking each other for granted. This could lead to 'unfaithfulness' as either one or both partners begins to want to experience what it is like to get involved with someone new. He/she might feel as though they are being imprisoned by their current partner and become desperate to break free of their choking grip. The catalyst in this case is boredom which could be compounded by unnecessary irrationality and is dished out by the unsatisfied partner. The feeling that someone sticks to them like a leech monitors their private lives and tells them what is best for the relationship galls and prompts them to be unfaithful by seeking refuge in the arms of another woman/women, or man/ men, as the case may be.
Lack of communication is another relationship destroyer. Some partners do not have the time to sit down and have a hearty chat because they are preoccupied with their work, they feel it is unnecessary or they are constantly "making out". 'Actions might speak louder than words', but in this case the reverse does the magic. Sex is subsidiary to love. Some people falsely think that in engaging in sex with their partners they are binding their relationship. Sex is borne out of the urge to satisfy the flesh more than it is borne out of love. One could constantly make love to a person of the opposite sex without really loving them, or without making them feel loved. Communication includes telling a partner how much you love them, the joy they have brought in your life, the vacuum they have filled so fittingly.
You can also talk about their dreams and aspirations, encourage them. Presenting yourself as a pillar of support, and let them confide in you and you in them. Adults irrespective of their gender like to be cuddled, spoken softly to, praised and loved. Some schools of thought think only the female craves such attention but this is far from the truth. If and when this remarkable aspect of relationship bonding is neglected and not utilized, it gradually breaks the partners apart. One or both of them will feel unloved, unwanted, not cherished, neglected, unimportant, subdued and will feel as if they have lost their allure. 'Unfaithfulness' seems to be the only answer, as they tend to get back those sweet moments they have lost, or are still seeking someone who can tell them what they want to hear and make them feel loved.
Intimacy, passion, excitement and adventure are other ingredients in the recipe of a lasting relationship. In a relationship were all these are missing, the ugly face of 'unfaithfulness' will definitely reveal itself. If one or both of the partners finds out that the relationship lacks intimacy, they might conclude that their partner is tired of them. A relationship lacking passion, excitement and adventure, eventually falls like a deck of cards. One or both of the partners could seek solace and try to recapture these missing bits in another person, thereby committing infidelity.
In our society, where more than half of our nation's populations are schlepping under the cumbersome weight of poverty, material needs could force a partner to become unfaithful. This usually affects the females, since they rely on the male partner to provide financially, however, this does not completely exempt the male gender. 'Money is the root of all evil', they say, and in this case it could be the root of infidelity as well. Like the evil it is, it grips the relationship by the scruff of its neck and forces one or both of the partners to damn every consequence and go after someone more financially stable. This is a major threat to a lasting relationship. People discard their sense of humour, their ego, their self-esteem, their pride and their personality for money, thereby unleashing an animalistic habit. When I speak of money as an infidelity stimulant I do not intend to generalize 'money' as only 'physical cash'. It also includes other things that bring wealth, power or fame. A love of money, power and fame overtakes good judgment.
Infidelity can also be caused by an intruding ex-lover, who continued to be in one of the partners' lives. Old fires can be rekindled and these old fires do not take time to ignite because the intimacy between them has already taken root. This could be made worse if the old lover's break up was not caused by any fracas.
Past emotional moments could be relived and the playback serves a tricky role in loosening the defensive guard of a partner who is under this pressure. The partner in question could find himself/herself attached to this old lover until the urge to repeat past experiences sticks in their head and refuses to go away.
If the ex-lover is desperate, he or she could harp on about what they had shared together in the past, setting the flesh of the victim on fire until the urge paves way to sheer animalistic desire. Then 'unfaithfulness' is reborn. It may even become a constant practice as the person becomes obsessed with the interloper of an ex-lover. The person's present lover may or may not find out about the illicit transaction of passion between his/her lover with an ex-lover but this does not make any difference since the transgression has been committed.
Distance always presents an unnecessary and lame excuse for 'unfaithfulness' to take centre stage. With lovers far apart, feelings of loneliness gradually wrap cold arms around one or both partners. When the feeling of disparity engulfs one partner or both, the end product is always 'infidelity'. They could feel very lonely and long for the company of the opposite sex. Libido could start rising, making it difficult for the one in desperate need of his/her partner, who is miles away, to stay aloof from jumping onto another's bed. Nymphomaniacs and philanderers are very vulnerable to this massive distraction in a relationship but this is a topic for discussion in another article. The preventive measures and perhaps cure to this problematic and damaging character trait are not impracticable. The unseen buttons of character traits that are embedded in every one of us could be controlled by us. I believe that 'unfaithfulness' sits calmly in one corner, like all other characters of our robotic creation, until we tap into it. Then, gradually it is turned on and released. This could be reversed - the mechanism is not very different from that of a remote control electronic that comes on and goes off at the push of the same button.
Boredom, as was discussed is an 'infidelity' prompter, can be cut off even before it is turned on. A couple in a relationship could prevent boredom from creeping into their relationship so long as the enthusiasm that was in them at the beginning of the relationship stays alive. In order for this to be accomplished there should be total understanding. There should be fire to keep the relationship burning. Both partners should constantly explore each other, learn more about each other, get as close as they can and shut out any other intruders of the opposite sex. They should see each day as the very first of their romantic escapade and re-live the quixotic times they had had together. They should see their partner as the greatest among their gender.