Quote:
Originally Posted by ydnab40  I'd never thought of it as simply being able to be close friends with members of the opposite sex. |
It's off-topic, and I don't want to drag it off-topic any further, but this nails it. If you have *more than one close friend* - you are polyamorous. Polyamory can include, but does not require sex. The end.
That said, you to be yourself, first, for that to work - if you're gaining close friendships by being someone you're not, then those friendships are based on lies, and are not, in fact, close.
A big part of that is - whose standards are you judging /yourself/ by? The standards of other people? Why?
Other people are other people. You are yourself.
Judge yourself by /your/ standards first and foremost - and within that, strive always to be better than you are; judgement of others is best left to their own self-judgement, unless you are asked by them to judge them. And even then, the absolute best you can offer is a judgement of them, based on your understanding of yourself.