The Oxford dictionary defines ‘faithfulness’ as the quality of being ‘faithful’ which is also defined as the ability of ‘staying with or supporting a particular person, organization or belief’. The term can be interchanged with ‘loyalty’ (or loyal).
From the above definition, it can be deduced that faithfulness is the ability to stay true and stick with someone that you believe in irrespective of what may faze you. It connotes integrity, respect, and honesty. Faithfulness doesn’t just apply to relationships; it also applies to other areas of life. Many people find it very ‘uncool’ to be true or faithful in a relationship not because it actually is, but because they are mentally too weak, cowardly and fickle-minded to understand what it means to stand out and be different so they take the popular route of cheating.
The truth is, cheating appears ‘cool’, but it actually does more harm than you realize. When you cheat, you indirectly sell yourself cheap, and give people the impression that you’re greedy, insatiable, dishonest, and without regard for the people in your life; In other words, you diminish your value as a person without you really knowing it. If you are in a relationship with someone, and you decide to cheat on that person, it means you have not an iota of respect for them, because you wouldn’t have to lie to them if you did; lying to someone you claim you care about is the same as telling them they’re foolish. Cheating also makes you dishonest and without integrity since you have to break your promise of faithfulness to your partner. You think about all these, and you realize that there’s no gain whatsoever in being unfaithful. The major reason most people cheat in their relationships is lust; they just have an insatiable urge to sleep with every person that comes their way, but they do this forgetting that the more people they cheat with, the more respect and value they lose. Think about it; if you have a door that just any key can open, would you keep anything of worth behind it?—Of course, not! Again, there’s your partner who you put at risk of contracting an STI or AIDS…does anyone deserve that?
Apart from the Medical risks that come with cheating/unfaithfulness, like I said, there’s also the risk of destroying your image. When people perceive you as the type of person that lacks in integrity, honesty and respect for people, they look at you as less of a person and you tend to become less popular among the larger society. You may lose certain opportunities, and burn bridges that ordinarily, should take you further in life.
Cheating isn’t just peculiar to men or women, but to both sexes. I know in some societies, it’s considered a taboo for a woman to be involved with multiple men, but when the male folks do, it’s considered manly. This is absolutely wrong in every sense; cheating is just as wrong for a man as it is for a woman, and it can bear the same consequences on them. Man or woman, if you really have any self-value and respect for others, you’d realize that cheating is wrong to indulge in. When I was younger, I often wondered why I couldn’t keep away from multiple partners; in fact, I believed it was practically impossible to be faithful/true to a particular partner, and when someone tried to tell me otherwise, I laughed it off as a silly joke. It took a personal experience for me to believe in faithfulness. Being faithful isn’t impossible or difficult as most of us are made to believe, it only takes value for people, resolve and character to achieve it. It starts from seeing your partner as everything you could ever want, and deciding within you that no matter what, you’d never disrespect him/her. It’s that simple, it’s only a matter of being principled. It’s like staying away from a bad habit, it may appear difficult, but if you mean to, you can do it.
Anybody can cheat, but it takes a principled person to be faithful. It takes a lot more to be faithful, it takes a level of maturity and understanding to do it, and that’s part of why some people shy away from it. But wouldn’t you rather be regarded as a person of dignity and principle than as a sly, dishonest, and disrespectful cheat? Real men and women do not keep multiple partners, only cowards and fickle-minded people do…Chose your category!
Drama