Mengagement Rings

The 21st century, ahhhh, you can just smell the progress. We have devices as big as a stamp to play hundreds of our favorite songs but can’t get rid of the crap that is on the radio. We have cars that run on both gasoline and electrical power yet they don’t fly yet. A lot of inventions over the last ten years and a lot of conventions tested like legal marriage between members of the opposite sex or what Carrie Prejean loves to call “opposite marriage.” It just goes to show as smart as we’ve become, we’ve still allowed stupid people to open their mouth on television….but then again if stupid people weren’t allowed to talk, I wouldn’t have a blog. I mean that from a standpoint of authorship…not subject matter.

But I am way off on my point, here. It seems that jewelers are trying to push the idea of an engagement ring for men or as I call it the Mengagement Ring. In essence, instead of just forking over thousands of dollars for a solitaire diamond for your intended bride to be you can also buy yourself one. I’m sure somewhere in all this, there is a level playing field where the fiancée is paying for this mengagement ring but still consider that it is most likely a plain band and not weighted down with a huge rock. Those are called class rings after all.

Wow, if this isn’t a great way to bastardize marriage then I call your attention to the pre-engagement ring. Yes, we have a ring called a promise ring that signifies your intent to be in a monogamous relationship with the intent to not marry but get engaged at a later date. Well, why not just go the extra step and have a promise-to-ring? The premise is simple. You go out to a bar and find a lovely lady and after a few drinks you go back to her place and spend the night. Then, at 6:50 AM you scurry to put your pants on and leave without waking her up, only leaving a little ring on her pillow that says, “I promise to call you.”

It’s not that I dislike the practice of committing yourself to someone, but do we really need a piece of metal to enforce it? After all, isn’t marriage an idea, a vow. It isn’t a physical object that can be distilled into a monetary amount such as two month’s salary. If it is, then don’t marry someone who is unemployed. I, myself, did not follow the standard convention in picking out a ring and my intended bride was happy with that. I wanted to at least traditional and buy her a ring and she picked it out, price tag and all. She was practical. She would rather me spend my two month’s salary more responsibly and would rather get something that she wasn’t afraid to wear.

Yet behind that she didn’t need a ring to ensure my commitment to our relationship. The ring is a thing. Our love was not represented by that. So, to say, nowadays, that you can get his loyalty by slapping a ring on that finger is just as ridiculous as getting one that signifies a commitment to eventually ask you to marry him as well. This is simply the jewelry industry looking at the white space and finding a way to take more money out of your pocket.

Not to mention the poor bastard that has to wear it like a dog collar. Oh to be a fly on the wall when the fiancé who sports a mengagement ring walks into his favorite bar and gets flack from his friends. “So, when’s the dress fitting? You get the ring, she gets the balls, huh?” Let’s face it. As far as outdated traditions go, in today’s world, the act of giving a man a ring to signify an engagement is just as bad as not giving a woman one. And how do we ask a man to marry him. Do you take him to the Olive Garden and put the ring into his salad, hoping he won’t choke on it? Let me tell you something. A run of the mill guy will probably chew on it first. He may even swallow it before realizing what it is. Put it in his beer? It’s gone. We aren’t that perceptive. Have the Jumbotron announce it during the football game he shelled out hundreds of dollars to go see? You’ll probably get a good shot of him trying to hail the nachos guy or beating up the poor bastard who bravely sat in the home section wearing the visitors’ jersey.

If you’re doing this out of paranoia that he might cheat on you and that this mengagement ring is an ironclad symbol of his commitment, you probably would have done better to spend the money on hiring a private detective to find out if he’s been cheating on you. Chances are if you have mounting evidence that your fiancé is cheating on you, a ring isn’t going to stop it. Hell, sometimes a wedding ring doesn’t stop it. A swift kick to curb will at least end it for you.

And what is the protocol should the engagement end? If you bought it does that mean we have to give it back? I can see the Customer Disservice Representatives at Cash4Gold trying to appraise a mengagement ring and scamming the seller for a good 20% of its real value.

Don’t fall for this cheap ploy by jewelers and save the money for something better. I have a few ideas.

1. LCD HD Television
2. Tickets for a Major League Sporting Event
3. Pay Per View UFC or other MMA Ticket and Beer and Wings for him and his buddies (You could call it a Man Shower but that would be nasty)
4. A year of NFL Network or other Sporting Channel
5. Pick up a couple of truck payments
6. PS3, Wii, Xbox
7. Pay for a professional lawn service to take care of the yard once or twice
8. New grill
9. New Power Tool ( Hey you want a diamond ring, we want a diamond blade)
10. Take him out for a nice dinner, a movie, and whatever else you can think of to celebrate your engagement.

So, get in the pit and try to love someone. Just don't spend stupid money.