On friendship, and maybe also love
Hardly an adult man is to be found, at least in the Western culture, who has never been told, by a woman he courted and who rejected him, something like this: "...but we can be just friends!"
Just friends? These words usually make me wonder what does friendship mean for women who thus speak. Surely they would not agree with Chekhov, the Russian playwriter, when in "Uncle Vanya" wrote:
MIKHAIL. Are you in love with her?
VANYA. She is my friend.
MIKHAIL. Already?
VANYA. What do you mean by "already"?
MIKHAIL. A woman can only become a man's friend after ...