Mädels

In what can only be described as the absolute natural order of things, guys try to be close to girls. Look, stop denying it - you know it, she knows it, we know it. It's the way things are.

While I have no evidence, scientific or otherwise, to support my following claim, I think I can safely bet a good amount of my allowance and have a substantial chance of not coming away a losing man: 9 times out of 10, these attempts to be close - let's call it 'friending' - is to, well, there are again several terms for this, such as 'make that catch', 'get that chick' or 'go out with her', among countless others. Yes, guys, you can stop denying that as well.

Of course, sometimes the motives of a guy in the process of 'friending' are even less noble. I'm going to try my best to avoid calling this one out, but it involves a word that begins with 's', ends with 'x', and has a letter in between those two that are of the first half of the alphabet.

And no, it isn't 'six'. But let's not dwell on that for now.

I, however, have a totally different reason.



As some of my readers would know, the past year has been an eventful one, to say the least. Through my deepest downs, my rockiest struggles, I have relied on both family and friends to keep me afloat and gasp for more air to carry on.

What I have gradually noticed, surprisingly, more often than not I have relied on the female side of the spectrum. For every 5 times someone approached me to ask me what's the matter, or straight up console me, only one or two have been a guy. That doesn't tell the whole story, however - with the exception of a few close friends, girls are usually the ones I can speak to, for hours if necessary, to rid myself of pent-up frustration. And this wasn't even intentional.

I have long wondered why girls/women tended to be a community-orientated group. Go to any shopping mall, and you'll see this characteristic in action: groups of teenage girls huddled together, balancing chatter, walking and window shopping without difficulty. I still don't have a conclusive reason, but what I can say is that I believe it's related to their strength at listening to the troubles of others.

It may be an inbuilt desire to share, to know that they're not alone in the both the joys and struggles they face, and to let others know that they're not alone either. Perhaps they derive strength from having a purpose, as simple as it is, to have some kind of positive impact on the lives of others by simply sharing the experiences and attempting to feel together, rather than just trying to figure out what it all means.

This makes a pet peeve of mine even more frustrating, which is that it is simply difficult to be friends with girls. No, let me rephrase that - the 'making friends' part isn't tough at all. Just start the timer and count until the first person asks you whether there's 'something going on' between you and her. 

What, in the name of everything holy, is wrong with people like that? Not, of course, referring to those who are merely joking, I do that too; but when you actually ask with me all seriousness whether I'm in a relationship with a girl when all I did is spend a few minutes just talking to her, man, then you sure have issues. Not that I really blame people who do that, as it's just really sad how society has managed to warp its head around this kind of irrational mindset, that somehow a guy and a girl can't be friends without ending up being something more. Well, you know what, screw it. I've always said that, regardless of your gender, if you want to party find a guy; if you need to talk to someone find a girl, and I've mean it. Both guys and girls have their separate, though not mutually exclusive, strengths as a friend, and I'm not going to be selective about my friendships just because of how certain individuals in society decide to judge me for it.

Girls, let's be frank: you can be truly infuriating people - you can be obstinate, mysterious, and cold. You can manipulative, and twist things up so hard that we have little clue what's left to do.

But (and it's a huge but), you can also be very, very nice people. And the world needs that. So cheers to you all.


Written in dedication to those who use their lives for the happiness of others, in ways big or little.