An exclusive: On Faith, Trust, Betrayal

The following is a piece of an interesting exchange that
I had with someone years ago. I'm sharing it with you in all its
integrality.


Isn't it fascinating how we all have different facets to our
personalities? And isn't it sad too that even the same
person who maybe on our side most of the time, who loves
us mostly can also turn around and say the most vicious
thing without us ever knowing about it?

We are so many things--betrayer, lover, friend, saint,
sinner, etc--that noone can see all of our being in total,
but are only subjected to slices of our personality at any
given time. I see this on a daily basis. Married men that
I work with, for example, men I've broken bread with, men
i've sat across the table while they hug or kiss their
wives or girlfriends. These same men would, out of the
sight of their wives or children, would turn around and
look at other women and talk about doing things to them
in the most vulgar way.

It continues to be a pretty disgusting thing to observe,
causing me in most occasions to remind them of their
commitment. I never--ever--did that when I was married.
It was not only  a promise to my wife, but a personal
one between me and God.

And so we go on living under this illusion--faith really--
that the person whom we dined with, shared a movie,
discussed the most intimate of issues, the one who just
kissed us goodbye before heading to work, our lover,
friend, comrade--that this same person whom we trusted
above all others, can just as easily turn around and
betray that faith, that trust, within the blink of an eye.

And yet some of us continue to believe...we continue
to have faith in others. We must. Because without that
faith, the world would be an unbearable place to live in.