When two people begin to desire, love, and eventually get intimate, they become vulnerable and open themselves to hurt while trusting that it won’t happen. My culture portrays infidelity as one of the worst things that could happen to two people in a romantic relationship. It is painful and immoral as it involves breaking one’s word because a lot of lying is involved. If there is sex involved, this exposes the other partner to serious sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. It is unfair to expose a person who is caring, loving, and ready to sacrifice a lot for the relationship to such ridicule and disrespect.
I am adamant about never tolerating cheating because I believe it results from selfishness. It could be avoided by the cheating partner communicating exactly what they do or do not want. Therefore, I have learned to constantly find ways to have even the toughest conversations with my partner. I believe and remain intentional in creating an atmosphere that allows both of us to voice our concerns and desires and accommodate each other without judgment.
I understand that cheating does not always mean that the other person no longer has feelings for me. However, I still would not tolerate such a betrayal whether or not I played a role in it. I always end relationships immediately after I find out my partner has cheated. Based on my cultural values, if they cared for me as much, then they would never cheat (Grothe, 2020). Some conversations are hard to have, but I would rather they told me they no longer had feelings for me than have them cheat. Infidelity completely changes how I look at an individual, whether or not they are my partner. A cheater acknowledges that their actions will hurt their partner but makes a conscious decision to proceed. It is this disrespect and disregard for their partner’s feelings that makes infidelity unacceptable to me.
Reference
Grothe, T. (2020). 9.1: Intercultural Friendships. Social Sci LibreTexts.