Wedding Ring
So Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are finally engaged! All of us, fans, are happy and excited for them getting engaged and for seeing the engagement ring (here it is):
An almost 18-carat, princess cut diamond of the purest of kinds of diamonds. It was specially made for Jolie of course. Pitt was the one who designed it for her with the help of designers; it took him almost a year to come up with the design that fits her hand best. "The side diamonds are specially cut to encircle her finger. Each diamond is of the highest gem quality." The designer says. You can imagine how much it cost, but of course seeing how lovely of a person Jolie is, she deserves the best, especially when it is not a problem for Pitt to pay.
The question here is this: is that what makes an engagement special? Is this what makes an engagement ring special? Its price? That it is one of the purest diamonds in the world? That it is an 18-carat diamond? Or is it that it was made specially for her to fit her hand best?
I don't know, maybe every girl would love to have this sort of ring, but something in me feels that romance is not about money. That a half-carat ring made with love would be the same as the 18-carat ring made with love. It is not really about the size of the diamond, nor the money, it's only about the effort. It took Brad Pitt a year to find the perfect design, and although this somehow feels like an exaggeration of the significance of the engagement ring, this is the only romantic part in the story.
That takes me to what the engagement ring signifies; it's a gift from the man to the lady of his dreams, and that gift carries all the wonderful meanings of love, respect, fondness he has for her in his heart. So the energy spent on an engagement ring signifies what the man carries for the lady in his heart. Yet of course, the exaggeration of spending a whole year on designing the ring is just.... I don't know, let's just say weird in this uncomfortable way for me for a reason that I don't really understand at the moment I'm writing these words. It's like a person calling up his lover every hour to tell her how much he loves her, that's the best way I could put it right now.
What about the wedding rings? Those matching rings that look almost exactly the same, the ones that both the bride and groom wear on their ring fingers of their left hands on their wedding day and until the day they die. What do these signify? First, I'd like to remind you that these are not by any means half as expensive as the engagement ring. Also that people, don't really care about seeing your wedding ring, your engagement ring is the one you can "brag" about. A wedding ring signifies the connection between the husband and the wife, it signifies the marriage itself. It's that part of each other they both always carry along everywhere. It's all the stories that only them know, all the stories that make them special to each other. A wedding ring is what both people see in each other that others don't see. It's not just love, it's not just a gift, it's not only what one carries in their heart. It's love, affection, memories, what they carry in their hearts, souls and minds. Wedding rings are not about how beautiful they look, but about all the beautiful meanings they carry that only those wearing them know.
I agree with you completely that it isnt the size or cost of the ring... there are MANY women who have diamond solitaire rocks on their hand, and their husband is cheating on them with their "best" friends. Everything is romanticized before marriage and how lovely and expensive everything should be. The ring isn't the magic lamp, the Genie isn't going to come out of it no matter how hard you rub it. Life is ups and downs, good and bad, and the romantic love you speak of is pretty much in our imagination, because no matter how good someone may be, they are not perfect. They will make mistakes, you will make mistakes. You just better discuss which ones are forgivable and which ones means the end of the line. I don't understand this culture of being raised to be handed off from one man to another. We as women, need to find our own self worth, our own path in life. We shouldn't be on the hunt for that person who will "fill that hole" in your heart. No man will "complete" you. He is a man, you are a woman. The roles are not to complete each other. We are all already complete. If God meant for us to "complete" each other He would have made us born attched to the one who completes us! You were born alone, you will die alone. Of course having a husband and a family is the greatest reward, but, at the same time, we need to reflect inwardly and really think deep down about yourself and your self worth. If you don't love, honor, and respect yourself, who will? It is only then we will find a companion on this journey we call life.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. In fact I know of many girls who had to go through depression because they passed the age of 30 and hadn't found a husband. And the mistake is that of their society, not only theirs. We have this proverb that some go by, it goes something like this: "the shadow of a man is better than a shadow of a wall", that is what some ladies think of themselves, creatures that need someone to take care of them. And that's how some others are forced to think. You'll find much more about this in other posts of mine.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about romantic love is that it is not perfect, it's knowing how to end disputes without much trouble. Yes everyone makes mistakes and the goodness of romantic love is the thing that makes is easy to go through what's acceptable of these mistakes with your partner without saying the wrong words or doing the wrong actions.