We Could Never Be Friends...?

      Yesterday our good friend AD came over for dinner and a movie. Her hubby and also our good friend, AK, is working in northern Ontario so when he's away she will often come over by herself. We were talking about all sorts of things and the topic came up as to whether or not it's possible to be friends with the opposite sex. While everyone agreed that cheating on our spouses wasn't even an issue, we still wondered if it was okay to say, go to coffee alone with someone of the opposite sex. Hubby said to me, "Didn't you see When Harry Met Sally? It worked out then, right?" I laughed. "Harry and Sally got married in the end!" I said if your partner was okay with you hanging out alone with a member of the opposite sex, then there wasn't a problem. My hubby said that he would try to imagine how he would feel if the roles were reversed. Even if I was comfortable with it, he wouldn't be, so he wouldn't do it. AD said AK would be fine with it but she wouldn't be, and that made her think. But, hubby continued, he would be fine with it if I went to coffee alone with AK or with any one of our male friends who is in a relationship.

    It was a question that was never really settled. This morning hubby was still musing about it. I hadn't given it another thought after I went to bed. After all, what are the chances that I would go out alone with any of our male friends anyway?

     So is it possible? Is it okay? Does it depend if it's once in a blue moon or on a regular basis?

Harry Burns: You realize of course that we could never be friends.
Sally Albright: Why not?
Harry Burns: What I'm saying is - and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form - is that men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.
Sally Albright: That's not true. I have a number of men friends and there is no sex involved.
Harry Burns: No you don't.
Sally Albright: Yes I do.
Harry Burns: No you don't.
Sally Albright: Yes I do.
Harry Burns: You only think you do.
Sally Albright: You're saying I'm having sex with these men without my knowledge?
Harry Burns: No, what I'm saying is they all WANT to have sex with you.
Sally Albright: They do not.
Harry Burns: Do too.
Sally Albright: They do not.
Harry Burns: Do too.
Sally Albright: How do you know?
Harry Burns: Because no man can be friends with a woman that he finds attractive. He always wants to have sex with her.
Sally Albright: So, you're saying that a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive?
Harry Burns: No. You pretty much want to nail 'em too.
Sally Albright: What if THEY don't want to have sex with YOU?
Harry Burns: Doesn't matter because the sex thing is already out there so the friendship is ultimately doomed and that is the end of the story.
Sally Albright: Well, I guess we're not going to be friends then.
Harry Burns: I guess not.
Sally Albright: That's too bad. You were the only person I knew in New York.

5 years later...

Harry Burns: Would you like to have dinner?... Just friends.
Sally Albright: I thought you didn't believe men and women could be friends.
Harry Burns: When did I say that?
Sally Albright: On the ride to New York.
Harry Burns: No, no, no, I never said that... Yes, that's right, they can't be friends. Unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can... This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted... That doesn't work either, because what happens then is, the person you're involved with can't understand why you need to be friends with the person you're just friends with. Like it means something is missing from the relationship and why do you have to go outside to get it? And when you say "No, no, no it's not true, nothing is missing from the relationship," the person you're involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you're just friends with, which you probably are. I mean, come on, who the hell are we kidding, let's face it. Which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can't be friends.

                                                                                                             Source: google.com via Emma on Pinterest