A disgusting example of how materialistic American society has become

http://www.today.com/style/woman-defends-tiny-wedding-ring-powerful-facebook-post-t85501

Apparently this woman and her husband are much more successful now than when they got married. Some of her family and friends have said she should "upgrade" her small wedding ring to reflect that success.

I think her ring looks nice. The huge and overly elaborate rings that are popular now are grotesque. Good for her for telling off those materialistic pigs.

Jewelry is one of my favorite things. My income has never been high, but that has not stopped me. It is pretty easy to get good looking stuff that does not cost a fortune. I prefer silver to gold, created gemstones are just as good as natural ones, and can anyone really tell the difference between cubic zirconia and diamonds? Amazon has low prices, Kohl's sometimes has very good sales, and I have even found things at thrift shops.

Getting back to the article, isn't a wedding ring or engagement ring supposed to be about love and commitment, not about showing off wealth? At least one of the comments mentions women who "upgrade" every few years. I'm surprised those marriages last long enough for more than one upgrade.

"Upgrade" your precious wedding ring every few years? Divorce that greedy bitch.

My favorite-ever jewelry given to me by Mr. kittehpeoples came out of a gumball machine. It doesn't have to be "valuable" in order to be precious and meaningful.

I can't even get my head around this type of thinking. But I also seem to be missing a couple genes on my second X chromosome...the ones in charge of shopping, jewelry, and shoe-collecting. So yeah, I can't even fathom a marriage that's built on this type of materialistic bean-counting.

When the spouse and I got engaged, we bought each other very simple gold rings with matching gems (birthstones...we're born the same month). We were engaged a long time, and while most people "got it" when they saw my ring, I did have a few people ask if I was going to "upgrade" at some point. Those people got a couple beats of silence, followed by, "...what?".

My wedding ring is a simple, classic gold band. It's super-comfortable and very pretty. The ones who insist on "upgrading" as a symbol of devotion can sit on a pin.

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randomcfchick
I can't even get my head around this type of thinking. But I also seem to be missing a couple genes on my second X chromosome...the ones in charge of shopping, jewelry, and shoe-collecting. So yeah, I can't even fathom a marriage that's built on this type of materialistic bean-counting.

I don't do the jewelry and shoe-collecting thing, either (shopping, yes, but usually for toys for myself and Mr. kp), but I don't see this "upgrade" thing as being about jewelry. It's about greed, vanity, and oneupsmanship.

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My wedding ring is a simple, classic gold band. It's super-comfortable and very pretty. The ones who insist on "upgrading" as a symbol of devotion can sit on a pin.

I like "sit on a pin." Seems right up there with "step on a Lego."

I don't like wearing jewelry but enjoy making it. When Takeo proposed I told him to skip the ring and we went on a three week road trip the next summer.

Wedding ring is a simple gold band, don't need some monster rock that looks tacky.

I like her ring, it reminds me of my mother's wedding ring set from the 1950s.

I hope her friends feel stupid now that she wrote that post. I'm sure they don't, if they have the gall to say that in the first place. I don't know where people's head are at lately.

I find her marriage much more interesting:
"My ring symbolizes a whirlwind, storybook, "make you sick" love story....
It reminds me of how my husband and I met and fell at in love in one night at a Perkin's diner.
He worked as a window washer, and I was a single mother.
One short week later, and we professed our love to one another, him leading the conversation.
We couldn't stop dreaming of our future, so excited to have a baby, buy a house, and fall asleep together every night.
We couldn't wait for the future. So we didn't.
13 days after meeting, we eloped."

Today, everything is about inscening yourself.
When you don't wear a huge diamond ring, designer bag
and designer shoes, you look like loser to a lot of people.

I don't get the concept of "upgrading." Sounds very shallow to me. Personally, I wouldn't be able to think of any other ring than the one Dh put on my hand the day we married as "the ring." If you could afford more elaborate jewelry or more carats, as Dh and I did in later years, how can you call another ring your "wedding ring," if it wasn't used on your wedding day? **

*shrug* some folks might be able to come up with their own logic. I can't accept that for myself.

**disclaiming that sometimes the ring has to be replaced due to damage or loss.

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Dorisan
**disclaiming that sometimes the ring has to be replaced due to damage or loss.

That actually happened to my parents. Their rings were gold, but they didn't have a lot of money, so the bands were really fine. I think my dad's got squashed at work and had to be cut off, if I'm remembering the story correctly, and my mother's wore through. They eventually got replacement rings that were more robust. They still kept my mom's old gold ones.

I do not see how something of sentimental value can be 'upgraded'. If an upgrade is possible, the value is materialistic, rather than sentimental. In the case of practical items (such as a toaster or shirt) the original item might be supplemented if it no longer functions, but the sentimental value for the non-functional item would remain.

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Dorisan
I don't get the concept of "upgrading." Sounds very shallow to me. Personally, I wouldn't be able to think of any other ring than the one Dh put on my hand the day we married as "the ring." If you could afford more elaborate jewelry or more carats, as Dh and I did in later years, how can you call another ring your "wedding ring," if it wasn't used on your wedding day? **

*shrug* some folks might be able to come up with their own logic. I can't accept that for myself.

**disclaiming that sometimes the ring has to be replaced due to damage or loss.

I agree with this sentiment. Mom did have to have her rings re-done, and her "upgrade" was purely functional.

My mom followed the custom of wearing both engagement and wedding rings together on the left ring finger, and after a few decades she started having to get the engagement ring repaired (it was a 'prong' type solitaire setting, and the prongs were just too vulnerable I guess). She got tired of fixing the engagement ring, so she had the two rings melted together and re-cast as a single, more substantial ring. I guess you could say she "upgraded" because the jeweler added some gold to improve the strength of the ring and to make a bezel setting for the diamond.

However, she wasn't upgrading because she wanted more gold...she was avoiding having to fish her engagement diamond out of the kitchen drain again!