*updated* …the beauty of betrayal …is in the lightness of one’s being when free of the ugly. Ironically, betrayers are always casting light on themselves. For the rest of us, our grace lies in the eloquence of ‘lighted sight’ that we have while watching their deceit and feebleness play out. Betrayers think they are shrewd in engagement. But are they really, when we have been watching with eyes wide open?

Aren’t they just bad actors only fooling themselves into thinking they are being clever?  In fact, they are really playing on our stage and showing us their true colors. They are the ones revealing who they truly are. How else could we possibly know? We realize how delightfully inconsequential they have become by their own hand. They diluted their own credibility with their jealousy, envy and pettiness which they cloak in their ‘good deeds’. Deceit is their highest standard of human interaction.

Those of us sighted, bask in the brightness of reality and an understanding of those betrayers’ inept and unwanting relationship with truth. In their lust of deceit, leave them be…BUT…

…when the embellished conversations about you and yours are salaciously juicer and more ridiculously contrived behind your back, then I say, walk forward away from the ugly and leave the betrayal behind. Let their betrayals be your beauty in your footprints you leave behind walking away from their very small world. For it is in your world that exists a bigness of true appreciation and love of people, the capability of meaningful relationships devoid of petty jealousy and an openness of compassionate understanding and acceptance.

…the beauty of betrayal…is knowing who you aren’t and the beauty of who you are. You are not inherently deficient of decency, loyalty and love of yourself and those you hold close. You are thoughtful and knowing but choose to have those others in your life anyway, despite their shortcomings of character…BUT…

…when your loyalty to someone isn’t mutual, you must ask, ‘why am I staying’? There may be a moment when you realize these relationships are a farce. Loyalty, understanding and loving anyway may be your credence. But staying in something that you are constantly pulling the knife out of your back and handing it to the backstabber again and again, is senseless. There is no meaningful substance holding the relationship together. It is time to let go and carry on.

We all have strengths and weaknesses in our abilities of ‘being’ within relationships, and some of us are better at ‘being’ than others.

‘Being’ in a relationship is not to be mistaken for being perfect or superior or better than anyone. It simply means personal investment in the time-honored tradition of loyalty. Loyalty of family, of friends, of community and beyond. It means respect and if not respect, then mindful regard for others. Most essentially and above else, ‘being’ compassionate and invested in a wanting of understanding why people are as they are. Sighted eyes give way to what is in front of our face. It is disappointing and puzzling how some people are consumed by their ugly but, herein, their betrayals are their responsibility and their doing. Holding them accountable is the reasonable and responsible way to continue forward.

…the beauty of betrayal…shows the fear of the betrayer being exposed by good old-fashioned truth of their deceit. They are so invested in their “trying to be the beautiful” people they see in others and want to be like, that they forget to give pause to the slip of their ugly peeking through. They are looking up at who they want to be like but are too weak of character to step up from the curb. So acknowledge those weakest amongst you, continue with your life despite their betrayals, which you have already been doing, and be kind with a gentle smirk when you’re stepping over them and leaving them wallowing in their own ugly.

…the beauty of betrayal…when you are sighted, you see ahead of the curve and the betrayal coming your way.  There is fear in truth. The stories and commentary that has been fed to people over so many years, has taken on a life of its own and must at all desperate cost be protected as not to discredit the storyteller.

Betrayers love a good story at another’s expense. This is the love of betrayal. Love of the world they create and manipulate in which they shine as the main attraction. And their storytelling of all the horrid things you have done unto them has not kept them from overcoming this adversity and carrying on. They may be a victim of circumstance or of another’s deeds, but they have persevered, nonetheless. ‘Look at me, look at me, look at me’! but most notably, ‘feel sorry for me’… Betrayers thrive on solicited sympathy and contrived hardship.

Interestingly enough, I too love their world they have created because that is where they thrive and belong… amongst their own. They are not my people afterall.  

I’m busy flourishing in the world I love. The World the rest of us live in, thrive in and love in. The world in which there is justice in truth, in which there is accountability for people’s intended, willful and harmful actions against others. And most importantly, it is in this world that I believe and covet with great faith, that reckoning of one’s behaviors is our defining moment bequeathed to us all. 

The universe, my dear, always has a way of sorting itself out.

Oh dearies, you aren’t that clever. As you were reading this, you think you know of whom I’m writing about, but uh uh. Oh, we all have a Betrayer or a version of someone described here that we know of. But I describe that quality within that is either a hallmark of one’s character or which peeks through every now and then. It’s of no one and of everyone.  

collective composite of many, reduced to my musings as one!