Why do people cheat?

Hi Friends,
I stumbled upon this article today while signing off from my mailbox…a good article written by Pooja Bhatt which is worth reading, so sharing it, with you all. Enjoy reading.


Why do people stray in relationships or look elsewhere? Why do they cheat? Is it boredom, greed, delusion that the next person will fulfill them in ways the last person could not or just mother nature’s coaxing methods coming into play to ensure you spread the bounty of your DNA? Whatever the reasons, the end result ends up being the same. It’s like stuffing your face with candy when you’re hypoglycemic. The “rush” of the sugar gives you a temporary feeling of well-being but creates havoc internally. “I cheat because I can,” said a friend rather flippantly. “Who wouldn’t if they had the chance? Do I feel regret? Never! I still love my wife and treat her like a queen.” While most women in the room rolled up their shirtsleeves, eager to pin him down in a fight, some of the men gaped at him with open-mouthed admiration.


The truth is, most people would cheat if they could get away with it and do cheat even when the risk of being caught looms large. Statistics show that the prescribed moral code handed down to us by our forefathers does not seem to be operative in the world as we truly know and experience it on a daily basis. Conduct suggested and exhibited over cups of tea in supposedly decent and functional homes is as realistic as the plots displayed in the tawdry soaps that provide the background score to most average lives.

We are, as my father says, what we hide. The lives we lead and the lives we preach are sometimes two contrasting realities. We promise, cheat, lie, reap. Storing away truths in mothball-lined closets where sunlight can’t reach. Yet we overlook the minor but vital detail that the only person we are eventually lying to is ourselves. Can you live with the consequences of your actions, your conscience for a second be damned? If the answer is a resounding yes, then consider this: love and lust are as different from each other as red wine and blue cheese. But because they can also complement one another splendidly, they get confused and combined with amazing dumbfounded regularity. Does being an adult mean seeking a constant source of candy? Or does it mean seeking self-restraint? Does less equal more in every area of life, except for matters of the heart or, pardon my French, matters of the crotch? The answers are varied and the questions more so but one thing is for certain-there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The rainbow itself is you. Nothing or no one is going to fulfill you if you are not inherently fulfilled yourself. We can stray as much as we please but we’ll be kidding ourselves if we believe we are doing anything more than putting out fire with gasoline.