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writing belongs to @savingpoint on tiktok

read by tanya

this is the poem i wrote for gender studies class.

-tanya ırmak ışık

i took this script from a tiktok user named @whatsinhernotebook and her name is daniela. this was an really impressive writing for me and i wanted to read it.

Friendship is not a lesser love

We’re taught to believe that romantic love is the ultimate goal. It’s the storyline in every movie, the climax in every book. Friends are the supporting cast. They’re there to help you find The One, not to be The One.

But I don’t buy that.

Some of the deepest love I’ve ever felt has been in friendship. I’ve told secrets I’ve never said out loud. I’ve cried in people’s arms. I’ve laughed until I couldn’t breathe. I’ve felt safe, seen, known. And still, I’ve worried that it wasn’t enough.

We don’t have a roadmap for lifelong friendship the way we do for romance. There’s no obvious end goal. No marriage. No anniversary. No cultural ritual that says, you made it. That’s why friendships fall apart, because we assume they’ll survive without being watered.

But they won’t. Like anything, they need time. They need presence. They need grace.

We can choose each other again and again. We can make space for both kinds of love. None of this happens in a vacuum. From the time we’re young, we’re fed the idea that romantic love is the pinnacle of human connection. It’s everywhere, movies, songs, fairy tales, even Instagram captions. Find your other half. Settle down. Build a life. The implication is that until you do, you’re incomplete.

Friendship doesn’t get that kind of mythology. No one throws a huge party because you’ve been best friends for seven years. No one tells you to hold on to your friends like your life depends on it. We celebrate engagements and weddings and anniversaries, but friendships, despite being just as complex and enduring, often go unacknowledged.