THE BOOT
“Betrayal is the only truth that sticks” Arthur Miller, prominent American Playwright and Essayist
Taking trust to the slaughter house… that is what betrayal is. Actually that’s not quite right…it’s taking hope to the slaughter house after you’ve told hope it’s going to a picnic. Betrayal has an awfully potent equal balance of hope and deceit.
Come with me over to the dark side. It seems that there are many of us already there.
Overall I believe wholeheartedly that most people are good. Most of us instinctively do the right thing given the opportunity and some of us are so good that we actively seek out opportunities to be the best version of ourselves.
Conversely most of us are also easily tempted by the fast path to glory. It’s not our fault… we were made weak. Our lives are short and we’re desperate to have something to show for them… but there is not always the time. And then along comes that easy path… the path that says that the value of the reward outshines the value of the trust another has placed in you.
Like us all, I’ve been wandering down life’s gritty and less scenic path when suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I see it. It’s a path that looks so much nicer than the one I’m on… and I can get on it… all it takes is a small blade. A small blade planted deep between the shoulders of someone who will never know it was done by me. It’s brutal but it’s the fast path to glory and it’s the short cut that appeals to our dark side.
Aware as I am that my life is short and the pursuit of glory does take a fair chunk of time, I do hope I’ve not betrayed anyone. If I have it was an unintentional crime…which discounts betrayal straight away. Betrayal, like all murders, demands pre meditation. So, on this one I can be blunt and clear: I have never betrayed anyone.
I have a dark side sure… I certainly am not one of those whose friends and neighbours would say of them “She wouldn’t hurt a fly, she was without enemies”.
If life is a war then I’ve been in battles. You can’t live a (relatively speaking) long life without casualties. And like most I have a high body count of those I have run through with my battle sword. I’ve hurt more than a fly. Should you wander onto my dark side, it’s pretty clear where you are and what will happen next. I am totally visible as being the head attached to the body on the end of the foot attached to the boot that will kick your ass. Therefore I could never pretend to be all sweetness and light, but the act of betrayal fascinates me, it is place never ventured. To me this is something so dark that I cannot quite comprehend its appeal.
There is so little visibility with betrayal…it’s all smoke and mirrors… of pretending to be one thing, while being another. “Come with me hope… the picnic is just around the corner….”
It is not for nothing that betrayal has at its Greek origins the word traitor. How could any reward be worth treachery? For the life of me I can’t quite get my mind to get to the place one must have to be where the pay off for such action seems worthwhile. To betray people who were expecting more from you must leave any victory hollow.
Great heroes return from
Handing the Von Trapps over to the Nazi’s… okay Ralph you thought you were doing it for your country, but how did you feel betraying a family who had only ever shown you kindness. To quote the great E.M Forster, I trust that should I ever have the terrible choice to make between betraying my friends or my country I hope I too have the guts to betray my country!
I could go on with many a quote, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Harold Pinter, F Scott Fitzgerald; betrayal gives fiction the jeopardy every good tale needs. Fiction is rife with acts of betrayal on epic scales. It makes for great drama for the betrayed to look the betrayer in eye and gasp… “You!”. It is the essence of the cliff hanger.
However in real life few are seldom awarded that moment of realisation. Most often the betrayed wanders into the abyss unsure of how exactly they got there, and the betrayer walks calmly into the rest of their life.
I for one am not surprised that (in a world that worships falsehoods created by celebrity culture) we have little sympathy for the deceit that is practiced in order for a small step towards personal advancement.
We have a culture in which the victim of betrayal is blamed for being gullible or vulnerable... or even just there. We have a culture where there is little value attached to trust and idealism… and few penalties for the violations of either.
We have a culture that tolerates violations of trust. We have a culture that excuses deceit, gossiping, backstabbing and taking undeserved credit … and calls it ambition.
Ambition on those terms shows easy and fast rewards. The rewards of taking the path of betrayal are many fold and do seem to last for a while… quite a while. It seems there is longevity in what 30 pieces of silver can buy.
But be warned… it’s a long game. In the end everything becomes known for what it is… a betrayer becomes known as the one who violates trust, abandons friends and leaves their ideals behind. Go for the shiny baubles of immediate reward if you may, but know this… you will never come out the hero.
What is a victory on the day for those who betray the trust of others becomes recorded in the minds of all who follow as acts of despicable cowardice. The Trojan horse is more synonymous with being underhand than being a heroic… so much so that sneaky computer viruses have been named after them! And poor Ralph aiming to be
The glories of betrayal do not seem to last forever as it seems that, current culture or no, we have a more enduring arrangement with our souls. It seems ultimately, we prefer acts of treachery to belong to our villains and not our heroes. And we all wish to be the hero of our own story – don’t we?
And yet, there are those who gamble that they may at least slip under the radar during their lifetimes and histories vengeance is a punishment they may never know.
For any who have ever made that misjudgement… be warned. Not all victims of duplicity, treachery, deceit and betrayal are willing to wait for the sands of time to settle. There are many people who just like Jax have a soul which is within a body which is attached to the leg which ends with the foot that is wearing the boot…. THAT WILL KICK YOUR ASS!
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