Have you ever been betrayed or have you ever betrayed another? There are far fewer things more devastating than the betrayal of someone close to you that compromises you, lowers you, or hurts you. A betrayal may be so devastating that for some people there is never an effective recovery from it. Betrayal can be on a personal level, as a wife to a husband, or a professional level as a manager to an executive, or at a military level as to a general to a revolutionary cause.
The very act of betrayal can encompass four of the seven deadly sins, as betrayal itself can be part of avarice, envy, wrath, and pride. While there are a multitude of reasons why someone betrays another, few of those reasons are ever justified. However, there are certainly cases to which one betrays another, that are of extenuating circumstances such as being tortured or being put into a situation to which you fear for both life and limb, though most cases of betrayal are premeditated and done by design.
The reason that being betrayed can be so devastating, is because one is betrayed by something or someone that represents both the absolute truth and further that cannot be undone, which often subjects that betrayed person to embarrassment, shame, humility, and possibly disgrace. Every betrayed person who may have previously been seen as a paragon of virtue is thereby shown as just another human with feet of clay. While humility has its place, there are few people that appreciate the humility that is mandated because of a betrayal.
Often when you are betrayed there is an opportunity to betray the one that has betrayed you, but not always, and it certainly isn't available in every case or in every situation. The fact that you may not be able to seek your revenge on your betrayer is probably a good thing, since negative actions and negative emotions do not often produce a positive outcome; however, there is something to be said about wising up about life in general, to the recognition that not every circumstance and certainly not every person has your best interests in mind. Further, you are far the better man, for not exacting revenge upon another, despite having both the power and the wherewithal to do so, for the downfall of man can be traced along the lines of self-justification and a lack of brotherhood.
Our lives are filled with opportunities to do the right thing or to do the wrong thing. It is these decisions that build the blocks as to where we are headed in our destiny. Those that are given the power to destroy but show the restraint and maturity to not do so, have chosen wisely, and those that take the same or similar circumstances to twist the knife into a friend for their own advantage, out of spite, envy, or hate, without first reasoning through the process, without first considering the consequences, without first investigating their thinking, without empathy or love, or the seeking of wise counsel, have written their own epithet, and placed themselves instead into the 9th circle of Dante's Hell.