Once
upon a time, there lived a couple whose body chemistry was such that their marital
status was easily given away. Their
display of pure natural affection and love, earned them high respect in their community
and for matters on marriage, their opinion was highly regarded.
They happened to lived in a community where people had small minds and so for such, every success
that came one way, they did not asked what caused it but rather who caused it.
And so it was rumored that, behind the success of this couple's marriage was their
wedding ring: a tall man with white beards reaching into heavens had sanctioned
it and so, everyone who wanted to have similar blessing either ought to get same
as theirs or find a way to take what belong to them.
Certain
acts by the couple made those in their community believed this myth about their
wedding ring; for they will not visit the toilet or the washroom whilst wearing
the ring.
On
one of such occasion when the couple where bathing, they left their rings
outside the bathroom and it being a shared washroom, it thus happened that a fighting-couple
who knew them happen to pass by. A
similar ring someone had recommended to them was not saving their marriage and
so out of curiosity, they took the couple’s rings and fled.
When
the couple came out, their ring was not there but it bothered them not – for it
was not like this pair needed rings to remind others that they were married.
But something happened in their community that made everyone realize that their
wedding ring was lost.
The couple who were known for fighting and physically abusing each other for some
time now were completely changed and their new marriage-life became the
talk of the town, and as usual the small minds rumored that the blessed ring
had caused it.
And
so to lay matters to rest, the chief sought to resolve these issues. One day
when the couple who used to fight were bathing, he arranged for the wedding
ring to be stolen and decided to that he and his partner will equally wear it.
To
cut this short, the chief who previously used his power as a tool to abuse his
wife now lived peacefully such that he became an admiration of the town.
The
chief still did not find satisfaction as some observation bothered his mind; all
who previously wore the ring still enjoyed their marriage even when the ring
was stolen- the first owner, the previously fighting couple – all still enjoyed
their marriage - so he reasoned that, if the wedding ring was as powerful as rumored,
why did one still enjoy good relationship even when it is lost?
To
lay matters to rest, the chief approached anyone who had ever wore the ring and
asked:
“What is it about the wedding ring that saved
your marriage?” And guess what each said:
"As
I could not visit the washroom or the toilet whilst wearing the ring, I got
used to the fact that something could not be done whilst wearing the wedding ring and
that awareness forever changed my marriage.”
The
Chief also confessed that his sense of discretion and discernment had been
quickened by observing the ritual that came with the wedding ring.
And
once it was established that the ring had no power in itself to save a marriage
except to serve as a constant reminder that:
“In
a ring everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial and that a
reminder to exercise discretion is the only reason to be in a ring.”
Now, even the small minds in their village saved their marriage even when not in wedding ring.
