Before I begin my defense of Ross Geller, I want to establish my expertise on the subject. Just as I have no memory of meeting my sister for the first time, I have no memory of watching Friends  for the first time—the show has been in my life for as long as I can remember. I know the show better than I know my own cousins (albeit I see my cousins once every five years, and I essentially watch Friends  once every few days).

I love Friends. In a way, it has become my safe haven—the characters have become my family, the apartment has become my home, and the storylines have become intertwined with my own.

Most of the advice that I give to my real life friends is actually from Friends. When my best friend and her boyfriend went on a break, and she was upset, I reminded her that Ross and Rachel found their way back to each other, and so will they (and a few months later, they did).

Whenever my friends are embarrassed about how they dance, I tell them what Phoebe said countless times throughout Friends—who cares? Every  character is important, including Ross. Rachel taught me how to be independent. Phoebe taught me it’s okay to be myself. Joey taught me how to be a true friend. Monica taught me the value of discipline. Chandler taught me to laugh at my problems. And Ross taught me to never let the one you love go.

Throughout my life, I’ve encountered many people who say that they love the show, yet they hate Ross Geller. I’ve read a countless number of BuzzFeed articles with titles like “31 Reasons Why Ross Geller is the Worst.” Basically, nearly everyone I meet hates Ross Geller. This aggravates me because the primary reason I love Friends is that every character, in some way, is likable, funny, and relatable—including Ross Geller. I have had it up to here with the Ross hate and it is time to defend him.

I’m not saying that he is the best character, but a lot of this hate is unwarranted. Ross has serious flaws, but that doesn’t make him the worst character ever. If you’d like to see the most annoying character on TV, watch Desperate HousewivesーSusan Mayer is 1000x worse than Ross.

Here are seven reasons why Ross Geller is not a terrible person:

Reason #1: Ross loves his children

I know this isn’t that impressive at face value, but there are a lot of fathers out there who walk out on their children. Although people question the sporadic appearances of Ben on the show, it is still clear that Ross loves both of his children.

He even goes so far as to dress up as the “Holiday Armadillo” just to explain Hanukkah to Ben. When Emma wouldn’t stop crying, Ross sang “Baby Got Back” to her; he will do everything he can to raise his children right, even if it means embarrassing himself. Ross takes care of two children in the big city and that’s admirable.

Reason #2: Ross is not afraid to be himself

His passion is paleontology, and he made his passion into a career. People call him immature for liking dinosaurs as an adult, but I have seen way  more immature things from adults in my life (peep the POTUS’s Twitter page, for instance). Ross follows his childhood dream, and he doesn’t let other people tear him down about it no matter how nerdy or uncool his passions are believed to be.

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Reason #3: Ross is legitimately one of the funniest characters on Friends

Some people hate his humor because it can be self-deprecating, but that’s just a personal preference. David Schwimmer did an impeccable job delivering Ross’ humor, and there are countless moments to point to. Ross’ “L-O-V-E” speech, all of Ross’ divorce jokes, the moment Ross discovers he’s going to be a father again…I could go on for ages.

Reason #4: Ross cares deeply about his friends

He’s protective of Monica when she starts dating Chandler—not because he’s being an ass, but because he doesn’t want to see his little sister get hurt. Back when Rachel’s prom date stood her up, Ross put on a tuxedo to go with her and make her feel better.

Whenever one of his friends needs something, Ross is there for them. When Ross finds out that Phoebe doesn’t know how to ride a bicycle, he buys her the one she dreamed of, and teaches her how to ride it. I’ve heard people complain that Ross is too protective, but that just stems from his strong love for his friends. He’s possibly the most caring of the Friends, and it’s admirable how much he does for them.

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Reason #5: He may be judgmental, but he’s still loyal

People hate Ross because he’s judgmentalーI agree, it’s a flaw. He’s judgmental about Phoebe’s beliefs and Rachel’s tattoo, something I don’t like. Nevertheless, he’s still best friends with Phoebe and he still loves Rachel. When Phoebe tells Ross that she doesn’t believe in evolution, he spends the rest of the episode trying to prove her wrong and arguing with her beliefs.

Even though Ross is being annoyingly judgmental here, the key is that Ross doesn’t let his prejudices win. He is still best friends with Phoebe, and they agree to disagree (see #7’s clip for proof that they’re such good friends). Ross is able to look past his initial judgments and accept his friends for who they are, beyond disagreements and judgments.

Reason #6: He may be jealous, but who isn’t a little bit

The biggest criticism of Ross is his “irrational jealousy.” That’s where I have an issue with this. Ross is a jealous person, I’m not going to argue about that. However, it is not irrational! Let me enlighten you: Ross was with Carol for 8 years; she was his first love, his first everything, and he thought they were going to be together forever. Then all of a sudden, he finds out she’s a lesbian and she’s been falling in love with someone else—Susan! (not Susan Mayer, I hate her).

I love Carol, but she broke him. Maybe Ross was born a jealous guy, but after Carol, it’s no wonder that he’s so paranoid. I’m not excusing everything he’s done, nor am I saying that he has a right to be jealous, but he has a reason as to why he is.

Reason #7: He believes in love

Out of everything, this is my favorite part about Ross, and something that I don’t think enough people notice: his steadfast belief in love. Everyone always talks about how terrible Ross is because he got three divorcesーhe got divorced three times because he got married  three times! Despite all of the heartbreak and failure, Ross still believes in love and marriage.

So many people get divorced once and say “screw marriage/love” (see: Mike Hannigan), but not Ross. Ross continues to believe in marriage. He goes after love, even when it doesn’t work out. Even after three divorces, he still chases it because he knows, in his heart, that his happy ending is out there. His faith and persistence is so admirable and inspiring. The clip below is evidence of this.

Ross has a lot of flaws, but everyone does. He isn’t perfect, but Ross does not deserve all of the hate. He is hilarious, protective, and loving. Remember when he bought Phoebe her dream bike and taught her how to ride it? That is a quality man right there. Ross’ positive traits outweigh his bad by a large margin, and he is one of my favorite characters ever.

Ross Geller is not the worst character on TV (Susan Mayer is)—in fact, I consider him to be one of the best.