Don't bother with the ring -- you're just going to get a divorce anyway
Filed under: Rings, Relationships, After the 'I Do's'
My husband does not wear his wedding ring all the time. I always wear my little gold band, but my diamond anniversary band often spends the day in my jewelry box, and I haven't worn my actual engagement ring in over eight years.What does that say about my marriage? Nothing, really, except that my husband and I are both too rushed in the morning to mess with putting on our rings.
A new study, however, has concluded that Germans are opting out of the wedding ring because of the rising divorce rate in Europe. Slightly more than half of all German marriages end in divorce, and more Germans are waiting until after 30 to marry. Okay, so far that sounds like the statistics for Oklahoma, where I live.
But there is more: "The new study by the Allensbach polling institute shows that only 74 per cent of German women wear a wedding ring. Among husbands, only 60 per cent say they wear a wedding band." Hmm. Most of the married men and women I know wear a wedding ring, at least some of the time. So that's different.
The study concludes that Germans are skipping the ring because they see no reason to invest in one when the marriage is destined to break up. German men under 30 are the most likely to buy a wedding ring, but they are also the most likely to be getting married for the first time. Among men over 45, only half buy rings for themselves or their intended.
If I had to guess, I would say that the refusal to wear a ring is indicative of some larger issue; after all, if you go into a marriage planning to get a divorce, you will most likely not put forth the effort necessary to make that marriage succeed. So it's not so much that not wearing the ring is a problem -- it's the larger attitude that marriage is a doomed institution.
What say you -- do you think wearing a wedding ring equals making a commitment to a marriage? And should I be more insistent that my husband wear his? Or after 13 years, am I pretty much on the safe side?
If I had to guess, I would say that the refusal to wear a ring is indicative of some larger issue; after all, if you go into a marriage planning to get a divorce, you will most likely not put forth the effort necessary to make that marriage succeed. So it's not so much that not wearing the ring is a problem -- it's the larger attitude that marriage is a doomed institution.
What say you -- do you think wearing a wedding ring equals making a commitment to a marriage? And should I be more insistent that my husband wear his? Or after 13 years, am I pretty much on the safe side?
What's in a name?
Dress of the day: Anastasia by Maggie Sottero
Unusual wedding cakes from Dragons and Daffodils
