He went to Bank of America!

I just looked at Jared's website for fun and went to the engagement rings section. The one carat artisan cut diamond engagement ring looks to cost around seven G's.

DISCLAIMER: I have nothing against Jared or jewelers in general. They are marketplaces, selling a product that we, the consumers choose to buy.

DISCLAIMER #2: Consumers are idiots.

That's a pretty specific average...

If you google search how much an engagement ring should cost, the voice result says that "on average a guy will spend about $5,229.00 on the ring." and that "most jewelers suggest that men shell out about three months of their salary".

Of course that's the jeweler's rule of thumb! He want's three month's worth of your salary!

I have a point, I'm not just ranting. I promise. Stand by while I remember the point I was trying to make while typing this sentence.

Oh, Right!

Movies shove a romantic ideal down our throats when it comes to these things. The bigger rings always get bigger Wow! faces from the lead actress' unnaturally photogenic girltourage.  It's marketed as a sacrifice on the man's part in the name of showing the female party how much he cares about her. The bigger the ring, the bigger his commitment gene or some hooey.

Here's an idea!

What if we went back in time and replaced all of the happy engagement scenes where a man gives a woman an extravagant piece of rock with a scene of a man kneeling down, presenting a box, and opening it towards the woman to reveal that it contains a check for $5,229.00?

Would she still jump for joy, embracing the box and shouting "Yes! Of course I'll marry you, darling! Why, it's beautiful!"? Would she still want to marry him?

No.

She would feel like she was being purchased for $5,229.00. She would be willingly exchanging herself for money, removing the relationship dynamics of love, team, and oneness in marital commitment to another human and replacing it with one where she is his physical, depreciating property.

If she were to say yes, what would that say about her? Does any man want to marry a woman who jumps for joy because he just handed her a check?

I didn't have much money when I was young and stupid. And I'm glad I didn't, because I would have probably dumped serious coin on a ring. Instead, I was lucky enough to find a complete set second hand. 

When the former owner bought these rings, he paid a load of money for them. They were hand shaped and set. But there they were in a small jewelry shop, being sold as "used" for a fraction of the original cost.  

She still said yes, and she -Gasp!- KNEW WHAT THEY COST! 

We're still married almost 12 years later, and I can honestly say that these rings value has increased because they are now embedded with everything we have been through and stand for (including the fact that a broke teenager bought them second hand). 

He went to a divorce attorney!

Here's another screenshot for you regarding Ashley Madison; an online "Dating" service that provides married individuals a platform to have affairs with other married people.

I didn't know this was in the news until I had almost completed this post, but I think it plays in nicely, if in a darkly humorous way with my point...

If you are a young man and are thinking about asking your sweetheart to marry you... I have a feeling a lot of  "used" rings are about to become available.

Wow, sorry, this post is kind of dark... I'll just leave this here.