143.5 centimeters

I got up and spoke: "I went to a train station today and learned that the distance between railway tracks is always 143.5 centimeters, or 4 feet 8 1/2 inches. Why this absurd measurement? This is what I discovered. When they built the first train carriages, they used the same tools as they had for building horse-drawn carriages. And why that distance between the wheels on carriages? Because that was the width of the old roads along which the carriages had to travel. And who decided that roads should be that width? Well, suddenly, we are plunged back into the distant past. It was the Romans, the first great road builders, who decided to make their roads that width. And why? Because their war chariots were pulled by two horses, and when placed side by side, the horses they used at the time took up 143.5 centimeters.

"So the distance between the tracks I saw today, used by our state-of-the-art high-speed trains, was determined by the Romans. When people went to the United States, it didn't occur to them to change the width, and so it stayed as it was. This even affected the building of space shuttles. American engineers thought the fuel tanks should be wider, but the tanks were built in Utah and had to be transported by train to the Space Center in Florida, and the tunnels couldn't take anything wider. And so they had to accept for something as advanced as a Moon landing the measurement that Romans had decided was the ideal. But what has all this to do with relationships?"

I paused.

"It has everything to do with that and with love and with friendship. At some point in our lives, someone told us the rules, how you must always stay frozen like that, moving along side by side like two tracks, keeping always that same distance apart. Even if sometimes one of you needs to be a little further away or a little closer, that is against the rules. The rules say: you can't change, you must be like two railway tracks that remain the same distance apart all the way from their point of departure to their destination. The rules don't allow for love to change, or to grow, or for friendships to turn into love. Somewhere in between being functional became more important, maintaining the same distance, the same solidarity, the same functional nature. Everyone will be happy if you keep equal distance - 143.5 centimeters.

"Never forget, these rules were established long ago and must be respected, however absurd they are. Who established these rules? That doesn't matter. Don't question them, because they will always apply, even if you don't agree with them, even if they are illogical", I finished sarcastically.
That's how love got lost. When we started laying down rules for when love should or shouldn't appear...