For a lot of reasons, I have, for as long as I can remember, considered the concept of marriage to be almost entirely unnecessary. I see it as not much more than paperwork, largely meaningless symbolism, a chance for girls to dress up like dolls and princesses for a few hours and for various businesses to take you for amounts of money completely out of line with anything sane. Oh, and when it doesn’t work out, it’s a complete mess.
One of the things that’s always driven me totally around the bend about it are the engagement rings. You spend a gagillian dollars on that…and then spend another tookabazillion on the wedding rings. In who’s world does this make sense? It’s like paying full course meal price for an appetizer. You’d have to be a bit of a fool to do that, so why do people not bat an eye as they put themselves into crippling debt just for a fucking rock?
I’m not the only one who feels this way about engagement rings. I just read a good piece by of all people a diamond dealer about how wasteful and silly a concept they are.
All 7 of the points presented here are worth your time, but pay special attention to number one. Yes, engagement rings aren’t an ancient tradition. They’re advertising, much like Valentine’s Day and Christmas.
And before you run screaming from this article thinking it’s going to get all preachy on you, there’s not one thing in here about blood diamonds or poor working conditions, other than the part where Ira Weissman takes the time to explain that he left all that stuff out on purpose. Even without those obvious things, it was still pretty easy to come up with seven solid arguments for the stupidity of spending all that money. There may even be more, but for now we’ll leave it at seven.