The Inside Track

Someone once said, ~A guy and girl can be just friends, but at one point or another one of them will fall for the other; maybe temporarily...maybe at the wrong time...maybe too late or maybe, just maybe...forever.~ Without a doubt, there lies what is considered to be the million dollar question concerning men and women, which is can they have a purely platonic relationship? For it's most definitely a debatable topic indeed knowing there are countless arguments stating they can't because it's impossible whereas others believe it is a possible situation to have a non romantic relationship with the opposite sex. Essentially, it is possible if one knows the ground rules and doesn't overstep or cross boundary lines to where the friendship either becomes awkward or broken afterwards.

Let me ask you this question to those of you who have a best/close friend of the opposite sex, whether he/she is single or otherwise taken at any point have you had any thoughts of pursuing something more due to your overwhelming feelings? Let me tell you something ladies, if you say none of your guy friends have ever had any feelings or thought about you as more than a friend they are flat out lying because they have. As a guy friend, one knows full well how attractive, fun, smart, quirky, weird, strange, etc. you are, being that we've spent time in your company witnessing when you're at your best, worst and everything in between. You see, we think about going for it to the point where we take into account a plethora of criteria stirring within the back of our minds.

As I said before, guys like myself certainly take into account a criteria of thoughts stirring within the back of our minds in regards to the possibility of going for true happiness. In other words, before we pass the proverbial point of no return we have a mental debate to where we prepare ourselves for either a yes or no. Yet, several things can come into play pertaining to the female friend in question causing our heart to skip a beat such as: way of life like being known for always being a flirt, incredibly high standards, continuous mistakes in the guys dated, committed relationship/marriage to a great guy, and/or the close family brother-sister relationship established if any. True, all 5 will play a pivotal role in whether a guy risks it all for matters of the heart but if he doesn't step over any boundaries it's because he cares/loves/respects her that much.

For the question can be asked to you ladies out there, how many of you actually believe guys aren't capable of sharing a platonic, non sexual relationship with a woman? Hey, as crazy as this sounds, there are guys who have the capability of knowing the difference between being in love and just loving their female friend. Unfortunately, the lines can be blurred so much so, one experiences confusion in every sense of the words. What it primarily comes down to is romantic chemistry. If you think about it, if a guy and girl hit it off and they find they genuinely share common interests but there isn't a spark between them then it's just a friendship nothing more nothing less. Granted, its an incredibly rare friendship these days to have but to have one nonetheless is absolutely priceless, special, and not to mention very informative.

In retrospect, for men and women to be just friends is a dynamic that a number of people don't necessarily put stock in. Why? Thinking about it further, one or the other will have feelings and it's how one deals with them that determines if they're either handled the right or wrong way. It's a sad state of affairs when close guy-girl relationships turn messy when emotions and thoughts within a person's feelings lead him/her/both to part ways. Of course, the flip-side to this is that single/married women have at their disposal the guy's perspective from their male friends and the same can be said for men with their female friend's perspective as well. In the end, I honestly believe men and women can be just friends and having the inside track from either side on marriage or dating does have its advantages.