Is there anything worse?! I mean, it always sucks when someone fucks you over, but human beings, being what they are, tend to be self-centered and I think most intelligent people would agree that on some level we all expect those around us to do what suits them despite how it may effect others, but that’s kind of my point; we live in a world where everyone seems like they’re out to get you, and for those of us suffering from paranoia this feeling is even more pronounced. So, on the rare occasion that you find someone who actually EARNS your trust (because the afflicted do not give anyone the benefit-of-the-doubt) it is absolutely devastating when they betray that trust.
Now maybe I’m alone here, but I feel like the fact that they betrayed that hard-earned trust is (in a sense) worse than whatever act they committed. For example, lets say you share an embarrassing secret with a close friend, and then discover that they told several people despite their promises. Primarily that hurts because now something you would have liked to have kept unknown is now public knowledge, but the exposure of said secret and whatever repercussions accompany it pales in comparison to the pain, guilt, and shame that comes with knowing that the responsible party valued your trust so little that they were willing (if not eager) to throw it away.
The reason betrayal hurts so much is because it is the highest form of rejection.
Humans are social creatures, and as such, we all have the innate NEED to feel accepted; when we therefore endow our greatest treasure (trust) on another it is the highest form of ardor. Love, despite it’s virtues, is often given without consideration or even (some would say) uncontrollably, but TRUST is not doled out indiscriminately. One can easily fall in love with a stranger, but no one I know would place their lives in the hands of someone they just met. My point is that trust is EARNED. We place our trust in the few people who have proven time and again that they care for and value us, and usually they are the people we care for and value the most in turn.
When you get rejected at a job interview or when hitting on someone it hurts, but when you have emotionally invested in another person, and through shared strife have come to depended on the honor and dignity of that person, and they willingly fail to maintain your confidence, there is no greater treachery.
That is the worst part: the knowledge that you are ultimately responsible for your own suffering, because you misjudged the character of your betrayer. If someone randomly punched you in the face, it would hurt and they would be to blame, but when someone betrays your trust…
Et tu, Brute?!
Confessions of a Reckless Insomniac 