CONTEMPLATIONS OF AN EXTRA-MARITAL AFFAIR: A DIDACTIC (Part 1)
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| glynn424
/ pixabay |
Life may be argued as being a stage with human
beings as the actors. These actors are knowingly or unknowingly acting in one
way or the other. It’s a fact of life that some people are better adept at the
demands of acting having been endowed or acquired the right attributes over
time. Some others try to play in
an unfruitful way, roles that they are not carved out for. There are those who have
somehow derived a false sense of confidence garnered from their past escapades
that convinces them that they are somewhat ‘invincible’. It comes therefore as
no surprise when such people exhibit reckless intrepidity without
circumspection. History has never been generous to such people. Their ultimate
end is firmly documented in the minds of those they purported to deceive for a
season.
In this three piece article, I intend to tackle the
issue of extra-marital affairs. I will aspire to refrain from replicating the
voluminous literature from the internet amongst other sources. It’s my quest
that this article proves a real succour to my readership who can view
themselves in the mirror of this discourse.
For the purposes of my article, an extra-marital
affair is used to refer to an intense amorous relationship, usually of a short
duration. That does not preclude the fact that it may at times be relatively
long. It may specifically relate
to a sexual relationship between two people who are not married to each other.
Contemplation as embraced here denotes the act of contemplating; thoughtful
observation. It also encompasses a full or deep consideration; reflection.
These definitions form the bedrock of my reasoning and provide the thrust of
opinions disseminated in this piece.
My targeted
audience falls into four distinct groups;
- · Group One: Those who have neither had nor contemplated an affair;
- · Group Two: Those who are contemplating having an affair;
- · Group Three: Those presently having an affair; and
- · Group Four: Those who have had an affair in the past.
The broad audience above justify why this article
is broken down into three parts to ensure that the subject matter is well dealt
with. Part 1 of this article kicks off the discussion in a rather interesting
way. Part 2 completes the narrative and tackles the subject matter in a more
in-depth manner, while Part 3 offers some sound advice.
For a long time, Frederick Brown had been a firm
believer in the doctrine of passionate monogamy. Having been raised up in a
very devout Christian home, he had been fortunate to have had chastity
inculcated as part of his values. Such good values ingrained in him had stood him in a very good stead for
many years. It was not
surprising that he finally crossed the ‘line’ when he got married, as a way of
consummating his marriage. Prior to his encounter, he had construed people who had affairs, or even
contemplated them as either lacking good judgement or bereft of a smidgen of
discretion. Marriage in his
view was meant to be such bliss, reminiscent of the fairytale stories he read
in school; stories that ended up along the lines of, “and they lived together
happily ever after.”
In his marital life, he had been pretty careful
about the opposite sex to ensure that he did not find himself in any
compromising situations that would test him beyond his tensile strength. He had
been impressively successful in that wise. Little did he know that he was yet
to meet his real test!
With familiarity amongst others discounting rather
than augmenting the consentaneity in his marriage, he failed to observe that
this contributed to a chink in his armour against any form of
extra-marital affair. It appears that ‘opportunity’ seems to present
itself to people when they appear to be at their nadir. It was therefore not
strange when he enrolled for a course to further ascent his repertoire of
skills that he met his most potent test to date. Previously, he had met women
from all sorts of backgrounds for whom his resolute resolve to hold on to the
tenets of marriage had remained absolutely and firmly impervious.
On the very first day of the course, Freddy noticed
this real head-spinner in his class. Not that it was a deliberate desire to
notice but it was so palpable that this lady outshone the other women in the
class by a mile. To attempt to give a vivid description of her looks would be
an elusive aspiration. What Freddy could say though is that, she was
mesmerisingly gorgeous, captivatingly prepossessing, irresistibly attractive
and stunningly pretty. For once, he subscribed to the myth that God must have
spent more time creating some people than He did others. If the looks knocked
him off his perch, her intelligence and achievements in life, were yet to
further enervate and debilitate his defence mechanism with a view to render
them porous. He was to discover that this was a real beauty with real brains!!!
A further discovery he was about to make was that this lady knew how to speak
to a king in a man.
Freddy could not help but to really notice this
lady and occasionally stole discreet glances without getting spotted. He did
muse to himself what a real distraction this lady was becoming. For someone who
had shown unbreakable focus to come this far, this was highly atypical. He
unsuccessfully convinced himself that there was no way he should get close to
this lady. To him, this was unchartered waters as the quaint feeling that he
had for this particular woman was abstruse and inexplicable. He seem to have
been enamoured by this ‘wonderfully’ made creature.
Suffice to say that there are times when a mouse
goes a-racing after a cat. This was very atypical of the previous people he had
met. It’s your guess who is the cat and who happens to be the mouse in this
scenario. Is it not strange that at some points in our life, we are willing to
make exceptions for people and let our guards down? Is this a classic case to
corroborate the assertion “to every rule, there is an exception”?
By the third day of the afore-mentioned course,
believe it or not, they had hit it off. The chemistry that existed between them
was enough to set a whole city on fire. For once he seem to have lost his sense
of discipline as to the fact that he should not be building ‘strange’ bridges
with this lady who was also married like he was. He was unusually willing to do
everything within his exceptional framework to make this lady excited.
For someone who had neither had nor contemplated
having an affair, this new ‘friendship’ was proving exciting as well as strange
in a sense. It was definitely untested waters that he needed to navigate.
After a couple of weeks, he had to wake up to the
reality that he was beginning to have divided attention. He noticed that this
lady was becoming a part of his life at a very frightening pace. To portray the
picture of not enjoying the attention that he was receiving from this
particular lady would be an apotheosis of economising the truth. If he did
portray such a position, it would have to be construed as lacking a modicum of
integrity and taken with a pinch of salt.
What he did when he had the wakeup call is what
motivates this piece and the next ones. To avoid this account from being overly
long, prudence suggests that I as the writer break the article into three parts
to ensure that the information that needs to be disseminated is done in the
best way possible. It may sound like an anti-climax if you are getting drawn in
my narrative. I will continue in the second part of the article.
In Part 2 of this article, I intend to cover root
mentality as against branch mentality as it pertains to the discourse. I hope
to present a picture of what became of Frederick Brown’s new ‘friendship’. I
will also attempt to present nuggets of wisdom applicable to the four classes
of audience afore-mentioned. All in all, the motivation is for these three
articles to enounce the findings of this narrative and pray that it acts as a
didactic.
