Chapter II
1. There was a temptation to turn this Book of Relationships into a sort of instruction manual on all the various relationship types:
2. A sizeable entry on marriage;
3. Discussion of male to male platonic relationships;
4. The complexities of the male to female platonic;
5. The intimacy of the female to female platonic;
6. An exploration of the differences in the female gay, male gay, and the hetero romantic relationships;
7. The purity of relationships between children;
8. The emotional entanglement of the divorced or widowed;
9. The very wide scope within the sibling relationship;
10. The potential rollercoaster of the parental and filial;
11. Extended family relationships that can span all behaviour;
12. The heavenly and nightmarish possibilities that exist in the master-subordinate;
13. And the weird and wonderful world of the fan-celebrity relationship.
14. But in considering the form for such an elaborate Book of Relationships the most important thing of all occurred to me:
15. There is no norm for any of it;
16. That every single relationship we enter into is a new entity, and it has all the possibilities, positives and pitfalls, of every combination, or to put it another way, every relationship is capable of almost anything.
17. That any discussion of the specific relationship types would serve no purpose other than to limit the scope of interactions between two human beings where there should be none, other than that which they feel for themselves.
18. All of us engage in relationships on our own terms, and whether this be a bad or a good thing is not really a productive topic for discussion.
19. Ultimately, we are only accountable to ourselves, and we relate to others in a way which we deem is acceptable, or in ways that we can live with.
20. We all justify our behaviour at some time in our life, and for some of us this justification becomes a habit.
21. But justification should have a limit.
22. Socially aggressive, and otherwise unpleasant individuals who constantly send those with whom they have relationships on a rollercoaster, are both emotionally and intellectually challenged.
23. And we should not beat around the bush in calling them for what they are;
24. Additionally, we should not beat around the bush in ostracizing them because of this defect;
25. And the reason we should ostracize them is because they are intentional faults; they choose to be that way.
26. The predatory aspect, which is a key feature of this choice, is a throwback to another age, an age when we were still a little bit hairy, but there is more to it.
27. In the vernacular, one of the reasons there are so many miserable bastards in the world is that we continue to make allowances where none ought to be made.
28. But conversely, and as has already been mentioned, relationships should have no limits, and if a person finds the nasty rollercoaster an acceptable term, then it is nobody's business but those involved in the relationship.
29. As we go through life we have many friends, but for most of us, we will have very few we can ever counts as intimates, the closest of close friends.
30. This is the highest form of relationship, greater than marriage, greater than filial, and of course, both marriage and filial can take this form.
31. In regard to this relationship it is more disgraceful to suspect them of betrayal than almost any action a human being can take.