Tuesday, September 18, 2018

I...don't

The Emmy Awards were apparently awarded last night. I haven't watched award shows in years, though I usually get around to reading who the winners were.

This year, though, one of the winners did something rather...well, selfish and stupid, in my opinion.

He proposed to his girlfriend during his acceptance speech.

Pressure, much?

Proposing in such a public way (sporting event scoreboards, surprise announcements, all that stuff) has always seemed to me very risky. I'm sure the people doing the proposing would not go through all that trouble if they weren't pretty sure their intended would accept. But there is still a chance, albeit small, that she/he will say no. Or freeze up and not be able to answer. Or have their life pass before their eyes and faint, robbing the hundreds/thousands/millions of people waiting breathlessly for their answer of satisfaction.

Secondly, it is inherently selfish. Unless your intended has specifically said, "Hey! It would be great if you could propose to me at the Emmys!", your method of popping the question is truly more about you than about them. "Look at how cool I am! I was able to propose to XX at XX!!".

Given the high rate of marriage failure these days, are you really sure you want to spend the rest of your life explaining that you planned for months to make a grand gesture in order to propose, but failed to put any planning into your marriage, divorcing after only a few years?

Bah. It's not that I'm against heartfelt, meaningful proposals, but more that I firmly believe they are a very personal, private event. Two people are committing to spending the rest of their lives together - while this is a wonderful thing, is a very serious moment.

Should it really be shared with twenty thousand drunken fans during the seventh inning stretch in game seven of the World Series?


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