Et tu Brute!

These memorable words of Julius Caeser to his most trusted friend Brutus, when the latter plunged the dagger onto the chest of the Emperor to show the world what is the price of trust! Betrayal has no limits, whoever it is, and whatever be his/her position, it is the same story all over. Like blood which is red for all in the world, so to is betrayal is the name that everyone in the world is familiar with. But we are happy until it one day lands before our door steps.

When my young friend shared how hours and hours of her hard work had been misappropriated by her research guide, there is hardly any words of consolation I could think of. Some times silence is the best means of consoling a person; but the sense of seniority and even superiority (under some guise or other) over takes our common sense, and we climb the pulpit and indulge shamelessly in sermonising, forgetting the fact that for the one who is the victim of betrayal of a cruel kind, no words can be as soothing as just standing by her and assuring that all is not lost.

But how can he be so devoid of a conscience? This is the one question that she kept on posing to me, and probably even the person who took his young research student for a royal ride would be unable to give an adequate answer to this question. Does one scheme to betray a close associate, a bosom friend, a blood relative? Betrayal, probably, is in our blood, and whatever we do, it may pop up the moment when we least expect it.

Can we do anything to really not to fall victim to betrayal by people we trust so much? Is it at all possible to mistrust the people we love, just because they have the potentiality to betray us one day? But one thing is for sure, we cannot take people on their face value; we need to put them to acid test to check and examine if they deserve our whole hearted trust. But even then we cannot be sure that they will not betray us one day! That is how humanity is shaped and molded.

Some of the great personalities in the annals of history have experienced the worst kind of betrayal, and the way how each of them respond to the people who betray them is quite interesting. The case we could imagine at this moment is that of Jesus; how he chides Judas Iscariot who betrays him with a kiss! This is irony of ironies. There is no cursing and yelling, but a quiet acknowledgment of what reality is. Sometimes there is no better way to over come the pain of betrayal than by just submitting ourselves to it! For the people who indulge in betrayal are sure one day to pay for it.