Double or nothing

The perks of having a twin brother

By EG Manilag, Staff Writer

This article is not about being a twin like those stereotypical ones seen in movies—the ones that mess around with their friends, go to each other’s classrooms, play make-believe, and do each other’s dirty jobs—we’ve honestly never tried any of that. This article is more focused on appreciation and gratefulness. Having good friends around is awesome, but nothing beats the feeling of having an identical twin brother, and here’s why:

Best friend since birth

This is quite literal. Your twin is your built-in best friend, especially if both of you are identified as identical—from matching outfits to matching everything. My twin and I grew up with all the love and care from our parents, and that included raising us to be there for each other through thick and thin. We’ve gone through a lot of experiences together, but I’ll never forget the time when my twin offered me the comfort that I never thought I needed. It was after my four-year relationship ended, I was very lonely—my pain came from deep inside and I didn’t know what to do. Then, just like standing in front of a mirror, I was embraced by my twin who was suddenly crying—he just saw through to my soul. I was emotionally moved, and immediately I burst into tears too. After all the crying and sniveling, I felt released—like my heavy sadness had been lifted from my chest. My mom also happened to be there at that moment, and she asked my twin why he did that. He replied through sniffles, “I just felt sorry for him.” I love my twin; he completely understands me. I can truly say that he’s my BFF and that I can always count on him.

Instant lifehack

We always benefit from each other in a very fun and interesting way. Take this, for example: all my friends are automatically his friends and all his friends are automatically my friends. Everything’s just twice the fun. Also, because we are relatively the same height and weight, we can always reference each other’s outfits for next week’s fashion—it helps decide what and what not to wear. It’s like having a mirror everywhere. But the greatest hack of being a twin is naturally having a longer lifespan than the rest of the population. A recent study by PLOS ONE shows that twins, both sexes but especially males, have lower mortality rates. “We find that at nearly every age, identical twins survive at higher proportions than fraternal twins, and fraternal twins are a little higher than the general population,” said University of Washington researcher David Sharrow. Statistically, us twins live longer.

You make people puzzled

When my twin and I were in high school, our classmates would always get our names switched or even jumbled around— even though both of our first names only consist of two letters. This left our classmates quite confused and embarrassed whenever we corrected them. They would also be shocked or disturbed because we just tend to, as they said, “teleport.” For instance, there was this one time on the first day of senior high when my twin’s teacher, which is also my teacher in a different class, looked at me with a seriously concerned face and asked me why I was still in her class when I already attended her class that day. I politely corrected her—and my friends who had experienced what she just had could not stop laughing. It left her feeling sorry and, as many before her, embarrassed. Now, I don’t know if this is a skill or not, but it’s definitely funny. This phenomenon is much less humourous when it comes to being sick though. On one occasion, my twin had a fever and had to take medicine three times a day. During the nighttime, when we were already put to bed and my mom forgot to give my twin his last dose of medicine for the day, she woke me up and fed me the last teaspoon of medicine.

Makes you better

Competing against each other is generally wrong, but for twins, it’s a way of bringing out the best in each other. With my studious twin around, I am more studious—and with my passionate personality around, he can be more passionate too. Ultimately, we benefit from each other for the better. Even if we have a lot of differences now, like different career paths, we still always share topics in school and we always listen to each other. I don’t know if I can ever be alone knowing that I have a twin. Of course, we have a lot of topics that we don’t completely agree on, but we keep the peace by agreeing to disagree. In the world of twins, fighting is normal, comparing each other’s achievements is normal, and calling each other silly names is indeed very normal. Yet, at the end of the day, we admire, support, and better each other. I love my twin.