Gordo and Lizzie, Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, Jim and Pam, Monica and Chandler -- these classic couples have a few things in common: we rooted for their romance, we sat on the edge of our couches as they leaned in for their first kisses, we rolled our eyes every time a romantic moment passed and one of them backed out and, finally, we see every one of these couples are examples of men escaping the friend zone.

When friend-zoning is brought up in casual conversation, girls giggle and boys sigh, recalling the classic strategy of rejection used on guys who girls see as their special pal, their confidant with a male perspective and their best, best friend. (While it is more commonly understood that girls tend to friend zone men, roles may be reversed where a guy sees a girl as a friend while she wants to be his girlfriend, but try not to let pronouns degrade the point of the message.)

There are a plethora of friend zone scenarios. One that is all too common consists of a man being told "no" when sexually pursuing a woman. (For clarification, this is a woman exercising her right for consent, not her emasculating males for the pleasure of power or vise versa depending on the roles of either gender.) Another is the story of a man caring about his friend in a romantic way, be it since they met or after a while of being buds, and never tells her, waiting for the moment she suddenly realizes her feelings for him without ever actually having to tell her he liked her first.

Another rarely told story is of a man who cares for his friend as more than, finally comes clean that he “caught feelings,” and it actually works out.

While there are tragic friend-zoning scenarios where the ending is a little less than “happily ever after,” I want to tell why you shouldn’t let being friends with someone stop you from becoming more than that.

I understand that passion is a key ingredient to a successful relationship. I understand that being attracted to someone is essential in being more than friends. I understand that “if it’s just not there, it’s just not there.”

But friends, I want to encourage perspective when being faced with a possible friend-zoning victim. Is being friends before being in a relationship a bad thing? I would have to argue that one should proceed with caution if you were not friends before jumping into a relationship.

Passion and attraction are important, but isn’t genuinely knowing someone on every level important, too? Isn’t liking the person for who they are important? Isn’t being real, true, genuine friends with someone you may be partners with important?

We tend to see our friends, especially those of the opposite sex, as semi one-dimensional. For example, when a guy friend lets a girl cry on his shoulder, agrees to watch a chick flick with her or gives her advice on her crush, people tend to see them as a “nice guy” or a “great husband to someone some day.” In reality, they are human beings with complexity, passion and the ability to be an amazing guy to you right now.

Just because you started out as buds doesn’t mean that being cuddle buds should be out of the picture. As we have seen, some of the most passionate, loving and (at least fictionally) everlasting relationships have come out of being friends first.

This doesn’t mean that every friend of the opposite sex is right for a relationship. It just means that sometimes if you step out of your head, and see your friend for who they are other than simply seeing your pal, you may be surprised what you see.