gungadin09
Posts: 3232
Joined: 3/19/2010 Status: offline
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i've never been in a relationship where my partner was threatening me with knives or stalking me, or whatever. i dare say if that ever happened it would be obvious what i should do. No matter how much i loved the person, i would cut my losses and get out. However, i think that most cases of "abuse" are much less cut and dry. i believe every relationship, and not just in BDSM, is a balancing act between one person's wants, desires, needs, opinions, points of view, and another's. It is a give and take. The question is at what point someone has "taken" too much. That's a very hard question to answer, especially at the time. Whenever i have been involved in "bad" relationships, whether it was with boyfriends, plutonic friends, job choices, or whatever-- i didn't fully realise it until long afterwards. There is a crisis point- something will happen to set it off, the last straw. And then i will walk, or the other person will. But even then i will not fully understand the situation. It is only after months or even years of careful consideration, when enough time had passed and i finally get some perspective, only then am i able to decide what went wrong. i dunno, i guess i'm just slow to pass judgement. i like to let things percolate for a while before i come to a final conclusion. i think if you judge too quickly, then you tend to misjudge. And at the time, my judgement simply isn't clear. i don't "know" what to think. i would guess that's what happens to people who stay in abusive relationships. i think almost anyone would leave a relationship if they absolutely knew they were being abused. But they don't "know" it. They might believe it, but then there's this other person telling them that they're wrong. And so they stay, because they're conflicted, because they're not sure who's "right". In hindsight, it may be perfectly clear, but it's not that clear at the time. i think it's healthy and natural to make allowances for the other person's point of view when you're in a relationship. If we all just walked every time we thought the other person did wrong, then we wouldn't have many relationships. Of course, that means there are situations where we stay too long. That's just the luck of the draw. No one finds their perfect partner right away, and there are lots of mistakes and stumbles along the way. i don't think this qualifies as "delusion". i think it is worse not to trust someone, than to trust them too much. As least, up to a point. pam
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