Society has spoken, and the general consensus is that it's not okay to be friends with your ex. Numerous social media accounts post things about avoiding one's ex, and the long-running joke is when someone takes a picture of a trash can and makes the caption, "ran into my ex."

Frankly, I don't get it, and I think it's stupid.

Break ups, for all intents and purposes, are pretty bad. It's tough to gauge what went wrong, but the best way to describe a fair amount of breakups is by simply saying: Shit happens. Shit happens all the time. Relationships end and people move on.

Just because two people are no longer romantically engaged doesn't mean they can't be friends. I know, it's the quintessential thing you say when you break up with someone.

"We can still be friends, right?"

It's a cringe-worthy statement, because it's usually so transparent and so half-hearted as if people only say it because it's in the proverbial, arbitrary script.

If we're being honest, not many people follow through and remain friends. So, instead, two people who had a lot in common drift apart and never speak again, and if they do, it's often done so in a passive-aggressive manner.

It's such an odd phenomenon that two people who were drawn to each other for one reason or another can just act as if nothing happened. It's sad, too, because in some instances someone's significant other can be their best friend.

It's hard to deal with. The truth is that when you start engaging with someone romantically, you risk losing them. We don't think about it at the time – especially in high school – but when we agree to date someone, we're risking that we may end up losing them. It's weird to think about, but we take the risk because, at that moment, that person is worth it.

It's painfully depressing when someone with whom you shared a significant portion of your life with leaves it as quickly as they entered.

I'm not trying to say every relationship ends in a manner that allows the two parties to remain friends. If you got out of an abusive relationship or you got cheated on, then don't talk to that person. They probably suck, anyways.

But relationships that have a peaceful, civil breakup shouldn't come with any added baggage or ill will.

Whether you want to admit it or not, you'll always remember who your exes are. You'll remember special dates, romantic outings and more importantly, how they made you feel.

So why act as if it never happened when it clearly did?

In my personal experiences, I try to keep my exes in my life as best as I can. I try to do that because them being my ex "significant other" doesn't mean they can't be my current friend. I'm still fairly close on a platonic level with one of my exes, and it's pretty damn cool. We're still friends, and we still remain in each other's lives, always having conversations if we see each other out at a party.

I also remain world's apart from another ex and that kind of sucks, but that's neither here nor there.

At the early stages of the platonic relationship, things will be awkward. But life in and of itself is awkward.

The fear of an awkward situation shouldn't deter you from keeping someone who was once a huge piece of your life on the outside.