Why Cheat?

I was talking to a very close friend of mine the other day and the conversation turned to being unfaithful, and it led to me asking myself a very simple question... why do people cheat?

Firstly, I would like to point out that I am making a distinction between having a quick roll in the sack with someone and actually having two concurrent relationships. While I feel that both of these are wrong, it is the second one I will concentrate on because it is that I sincerely don't understand.

My first thought was that it's possibly something to do with the alleged "excitement" that is derived from "getting away with it", and if that is true I have to pity them. How you can take any pleasure from causing someone so much pain is beyond me? Yes, it might be exciting, but I can think of plenty of ways of channeling my need for excitement that doesn't hurt anyone.

Secondly, I thought, maybe it is "hedging your bets". Not wanting to finish a relationship that is going wrong until you're sure that the new one is better. On the surface this is definitely a "better" reason than the first, but that's only on the face of it. If you look at it a little closer you will notice this. Why does the person have a basic need to be in a relationship? Obviously the thought of being on their own is so abhorrent to them that they cannot face even a couple of weeks of it.

The third reason I could think of was a simple lack of willpower. Someone is offering you something on a plate and you don't have the cajones to resist. I can understand that, because I have been in a situation where (not in my current relationship in case my wife reads this!) I have basically been handed it on a plate, and I resisted. It was difficult because the relationship I was in at the time wasn't the happiest and broke down soon after, but the fact that I was in a relationship immediately prevented anything from happening.

The last reason I could think of was that the person is trying to protect their partners feelings. The idea that they didn't want to tell their partner that the relationship was over in case they were hurt by this is frankly a laughable concept. If they cared an ounce about their partners feelings they wouldn't be partaking in extra-curricular activities in the first place.

So there you have it. My idea of why people cheat. As you can probably see, I don't understand why people do it. If anyone out there in internet-land disagrees (or agrees) with me. Please post your comments. Maybe if they do I would understand things a little better.