There's more than just that. In my oh so humble opinion, born of all the experience of a fetus in the womb, a friendship can mean more than a relationship, should be placed before a relationship. In a righteous world, there would BE no functional difference, because you would not encounter one without the other... then again, I don't think any of us need debate whether or not this is a righteous world.
Pain... yeah, there's the rub. On the one hand, you'd do anything to prevent the Target Of Your Affections feeling pain. On the other, life very rarely presents you with black and white choices, with the option of No Pain. There's a marked tendency towards grays, towards having to choose the lesser of the evils, especially in the long run.
Maybe that's the path to enlightenment. If you lie to avoid causing pain, it's a relationship. If you cause pain to avoid a lie, it's a friendship.
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Postscript - I don't know how many of you follow the u.gif board (http://msg.spacebar.org/f/a/s/msg/reply?n=5), but I've been making sprites of the regulars there. That extends here too - the Universe of Friends is vast and encompasses many comics! So if anyone wants to see themselves u.gifized, check my rants on that board and follow through. |
