To Think A Thought

4: Boys & Girls

You know what I'm tired of? People thinking they can't be friends with the opposite gender, or thinking it would "be too weird."

WHY? I don't get it!

Recently, my church has had this rift between the young women and young men. I finally took it up with our bishop in a BYC meeting and we have now had a goal to bond better with each other for a while. (I'll admit that I feel as if the girls are putting more effort in than the guys.) We had another meeting all together about it later on, and when Bishop asked the guys how they felt about it all, one of them had the guts to respond saying, "If one of the girls came up to me, I honestly wouldn't care. I'd talk to a guy if he came up to me, but I don't care about a girl." And that right there made me so mad! (Those aren't his exact words, but that is basically what he saying.)

What's the difference if a girl came up to you, boy? Or if a boy went up to a girl? Why would you talk to a guy that came up to you but not give a crap if it were a girl? We're all human! We all have the capability to be friends with one another! We aren't both completely different alien species that need to be kept a certain distance away from one another and don't speak the same language!

I understand that some people may be more comfortable hanging out with the same gender, and I also know that there are many best friends and simple friend pairings that are a guy and a girl. But in this area that I live in, this matter is troubling. I want us to all get along! Unfortunately, not everybody sees eye-to-eye. So I want to talk about this a bit. Sure we are different genders with distinct differences in appearance and sometimes personality, but does this mean it is should be disgusting or awkward to talk to someone of the opposite gender? No!

I'll admit that talking to guys kind of threw me off years ago, but at this current date, I have no problem having chats and making jokes with them! They're just as much fun to talk with as girls are, and the only reason it would be awkward is if one of us made it so.

There is one thing I know for sure that can make people uncomfortable and awkward, and that is when a guy and a girl can't just be friends. There's a quote by (I believe) Nikita Gill that says:
"Every girl has this male friend who is just a friend but the whole universe thinks he is not just a friend."

We could reverse this quote to say "Every guy has this female friend who is just a friend but the whole universe thinks she is not just a friend" too. Sadly, this is pretty accurate. I've seen it a lot on social media, with celebrities, and even with people in my life. If a guy and girl so much as hang out together, so many people consider them a "thing" and this is very wrong to do! Not only could it make things awkward between this guy or girl and they possibly lose their beloved friendship, but it shows how much people don't care how many times it could be said that they're just friends. And it frustrates me.

You can't ship a guy and girl together just because they're good friends that go to lunch and movies together, and who are open with one another. Lots of great guy and girl friends REMAIN GUY AND GIRL FRIENDS. They support each other when they have crushes, their marriages, attend the weddings, and all of that! They never become an item.

This whole thing is probably a reason there are rifts between our two genders. Maybe because of this "They must be together because they hang out! How cute! Let me Instagram it!" thing, guys and girls are afraid to befriend each other. I don't know. It's just one guess that is probably true to some extent.

But back to my main point: Males and females can be friends! Don't make it awkward and ignore (unless there are obvious reasons why...like she's your bully, or he is a terrible influence for you.) Let's not be intimidated by one another or anything, okay?

This whole rant is mostly directed towards my local area and the guys and girls I know (who probably don't even have wattpad accounts, but whatever.) I know there are many places that all get along and that's amazing! I just hope this has helped you in one way or another.

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YOUR CHALLENGE: Get in contact with someone of the opposite gender that you've seen around or are semi-acquainted with and have a chat! Whether you hit it off or are just very awkward, let it happen. Try opening up more to talking to and befriending the opposite gender because it really is awesome! And if you already do that, good for you! I only wish the people I know here would do the same...