RING CHECK

by Jeffrey Hilton

Friends have reminded me time and time again to look first at the left hand. At a recent church Family Home Evening activity I decided to look around and see who was wearing an engagement ring. To my right I saw a group of women. One of them was telling a story about a guy. I looked at her left hand and saw an engagement ring on her ring finger. I glanced at another woman and then her left hand. “Yep,” I thought, “ wait a minute.” This woman had a ring on her left ring finger, yet it wasn’t an engagement ring. Around the room a majority of the women had no engagement rings but regular rings on their left ring fingers. Some of these non-engagement rings still sparkled, leaving question to whether or not they might be engagement rings. I was surprised again when I saw a single male friend wearing rings. One ring on his right hand resembled a wedding band and another on his left ring finger was the same size, but had a spiral on it. Is this a ploy to avoid any form of dating?

I asked around to different singles to find out. Stacey Jones, not her real name, was one of the women I questioned on this subject. I asked her if she has ever worn a ring on her left hand and why. “A few times,” she confessed, “When in drastic situations where I didn’t want to be hit on and to be left alone. But no, I reserve that finger for the most special ring someday.” Other women I asked agreed with Jones revealing that women wear these rings to deter men from pursuing them in certain places and situations.

How can you approach someone if you don’t know whether or not they’re engaged? The whole point of the ring check is to do it discretely. If someone must take more than a glance to determine if they see an engagement ring or a ring with a spiral on it, it defeats the purpose. If a woman wears a ring on her left ring finger it mean she either isn’t available or isn’t making herself available. If you are interested in dating please make it known by not wearing rings on your left hand.

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