This was inspired somewhat by the
Have you ever cheated on your partner? thread.
Would you forgive your partner for their weakness if they cheated on you? Would you allow them a chance to regain your trust?
Let us say in this situation you and your partner are very in love with each other, but were perhaps enduring some hard times. It only happened once and they confessed it to you, with obvious guilt and regret and with the expectation that they would most likely be dumped.
I for one, really do feel like I would be willing to forgive it. Humans are prone to making awful mistakes, and so to me, it seems that a one time occurrence could be forgivable. If it happened only once, and they were honest and forthcoming with me about it and I could see and trust that they still very much loved me and did not have feelings for this other person, I'd be willing to give them another chance. If I found out about it through a means other than themselves and it was obvious they had tried to conceal it from me, I don't think it would be so easy for me to let pass. Also it depends on the situation and the "type" of cheating. Did they just sleep with this other person for the physical experience alone, or was it an emotional attachment and were they falling in love with this other person? All of those variables would factor into this I'm sure. I feel I would be much more deeply traumatized if the cheating were emotional. Physical cheating alone would result in extreme amounts of jealousy and distrust, but ultimately I think I would be able to forgive it.
Thoughts?
ETA: Also felt to mention that I do not subscribe to the belief that "once a cheater, always a cheater". Perhaps this is true for some people who have cheated but I do not think it necessarily applies to everyone. I believe people have the ability to learn from their mistakes and I wouldn't automatically assume someone who had cheated in the past would do it again unless they gave me serious reason to think so other than a past offense.