A diamond is...not that special?
Another installment of "Valentine's Day is Ruby's favorite holiday."
You're at your favorite restaurant. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the little velvet box. You open it up and see the perfect glint of a couple of karats of true love. A dream come true or 10 car payments sunk into something fundamentally worthless?
I came across this story that claims that diamonds aren't really worth that much. Yeah, it was written when I was 4 years old, but if a diamond is supposed to be forever, it seems that this logic might also be.
Has anybody used another stone or symbol instead of diamonds to show love? Something more intrinsically valuable or meaningful? I've been sort of enamored of tanzanite since I found out that it is truly rare.
A punk rock friend of a punk rock boyfriend of mine had a nose ring made from some sort of horn or antler or something that he said had at one time been an engagement ring. All of my skepticism for diamonds isn't going to make that less icky, but it was meaningful to him. I guess.
Is there a better way than diamonds to make two months' salary last forever?
Comments (5)
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Would you be happy if the man in your life paid out 2 months wages for a chunk of coal?
After all, that's all a diamond really is.
Seems silly to me that a man's love for a woman can be measured in trinkets. At least back in Biblical days when men traded horses, cattle and goats for women somebody got something of value. I man make a ring from a nickel and a rock from your driveway.
And did you know that Valentines Day is one of the worst days of the year for tips to the people who deliver your flowers and chocolates? Oh sure, their bosses rack up on Valentines Day but their employees get stuck delivering to everyone else's wives and girl friends until it's too late to go out on a date with their own valentine.
As a rule women are lousy tippers unless they've spent a lifetime in the service industries and over 99% of Valentines deliveries are to women.
Posted on February 12, 2008 12:23 PM
I'm with you on the measuring love in trinkets and I've been convinced that diamonds are pretty but also fundamentally lame. But pretty. And I don't think there's anything wrong with liking pretty things.
And, since it seems like I won't be able to avoid having my value as a person measured against some external metric, it's much more attractive to me to be measured in something gleaming and sparkling rather than a herd of goats. Maybe it's just me.... maybe it's the smell... I'd rather be stacked up against treasure than livestock.
And I have exactly as much sympathy for those employed in service on Feb. 14 as I have on any other day. It's not my fault they want to deliver flowers. I've had hard jobs that included hard days and I've survived every single one of them (so far).
Should the minimum wage be a living wage? Sure. But will having a crappy attitude about a holiday made for kissing and eating chocolate fix the lives of our poorest? No.
So if jewelry is too collusive and flowers are too exploitative of the working masses and livestock is smelly and also violates a lot of city ordinances and neighborhood covenants, what is a fitting token of esteem?
Posted on February 12, 2008 12:47 PM
"What is a fitting token of esteem?"
So we're back to tokens and trinkets, are we? ;-)
Posted on February 12, 2008 1:33 PM
Two things:
First off: I'm like a 50 percent tipper when the bill is small. But I never drop below 20 unless the service sucked a whole heck of a lot.
Secondly: I think diamonds are beautiful but only appropriate in certain situations. My brother gave his girlfriend a diamond ring last year, against his entire family's advice. I thought it was a mistake to give her a diamond ring when in the next couple of years he would likely be giving her an engagement ring. Takes something away from how special that is supposed to be. Diamonds may not be as rare as everyone thinks, but if you save them for the truly special moments (any old Valentine's Day does NOT count), then I think they retain that special something that makes them so desired.
Posted on February 12, 2008 2:00 PM
Call me crazy, cynical, or just single for so many Valentines Days that I wouldn't know any better, but if a man handed me a check to pay four car payments instead of a diamond ring for V-Day, I think I'd cry tears of joy for months to come.
Posted on February 12, 2008 4:14 PM