Gandhi had questions

So he asked me... don't all the great ones?

Anyway, he raised two good points that deserve some detail. One was the question, "is it ever not healthy to pursue brother-sister relationships?" The categorical answer has to be yes. There are exceptions to every rule in relationships. But in a general case? I think if you rule out past involvement and other strange connections, the answer is no, it's almost always healthy to pursue brother-sister relationships. The question is one of degrees, and specifically if my pursuit of a more purposeful than normal brother-sister relationship was in fact diverging from the definition of fraternal relationships and becoming de facto romantic, and therefore unkind and unhealthy in my context, as well as in violation of the DTR rule. But in general, I would say if you meet a girl who seems worth getting to know, it's a good thing to pursue a Biblical, fraternal friendship.

As far as the more-than-friends-but-not-yet-formally-courting that Gandhi mentions, that shouldn't happen, except in exceptional cases. Where I come from it's called "dating", and it exists in that ethereal mist between fraternity and formal courtship. As I stated before, dating is a highly flawed system, and should only be used where necessary. At this point, I don't know if I would support my decision to date Dalia.

Gandhi also writes: We both agree that relationships are about symantecs and not syntax. But as guys, it's important to identify when a relationship has moved beyond (or should move beyond) the brother-sister thing and into courtship. We don't want to leave a girl guessing as to the direction of a relationship. This is clearly poorly thought-out mumbo-jumbo, which he sort of admitted personally, at least the part about symantecs. Anyway, what he wanted to say is that it's about the content, not the jargon. I would agree to a point, but I think the jargon used to define the relationship is vital in determining its content. The title given to a relationship has great bearing on expectations of both parties plus bystanders. Getting beyond titles, I agree with the Mahatma that it's vital for guys to lead the relationship into courtship at the appropriate juncture. That's not an issue I expect to face anytime soon, but when I do, be assured you'll hear about it.