Friday, 18 May 2018

The Wedding Ring….. by Lovis Kwasi Armah



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.

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