by Anne Seyor

Created on: May 11, 2010

After a break-up it is common to collect my belongings from my ex, and for him to collect his. I think this applies to engagement rings. The engagement ring represents the engagement between the couple. When the engagement is broken there is no engagement to represent therefore there is no purpose for the engagement ring. This arrives at two primary choices of keeping the purposeless ring or not keeping it. If a person chooses to keep it to sell then the person of a merchant. On a personal level, the ring also represents the other person in the ex-engagement. This is unhealthy to keep a reminder of a broken engagement. Therefore not to keep it means to throw it away or to give it away from one own's possession. If a person threw it away then the person is of a waster. The choice I choose is to offer it back to the ex. This is because I could not sell it as an item that had no purpose, because it did, I could not keep it as a reminder that brings pain of what is broken, I could not throw it away like waste. So I would offer it for him to collect as I would presume he would offer me to collect my belongings after a break-up. If he says he would like to keep my belongings I would ask why. Memories hold people back. I think I do not want to be held back to look backwards but instead look forwards because life moves forwards. Not to live in the memories of my past but to live in the present that moves forward.

An engagement ring is a symbolic object that represents an enclosing. That is the other person encloses me. It represents that I belong to him. After a break-up I do not belong to him any longer and I am not enclosed by him, therefore the ring is not enclosing my finger. It belongs back with him because there is no reason for me to have a symbol on me to mark that I belong to him. This applies vice versa. Because we are no longer engaged there we no longer belong to each other.

Yes I should return to him the symbol that he enclosed on my finger because I am no longer his after our break-up, therefore the ring is no longer mine.

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