The Good Samaritan...Soap Style

I was an unknowing Good Samaritan this holiday season, and I have General Hospital to thank for it.

A friend of mine who is an Average Joe-kind of guy has a new-ish girlfriend who is the Diamonds&Furs-type. One night during the October storm he and I were drowning our power outage woes in wine at a local establishment. Average Joe said that he was feeling very insecure with Diamonds&Furs, and that he was already stressing about potential Christmas gifts for her. Always one to come to the aid of someone in need, I told him a little story that I'd seen on General Hospital years and years ago.

Sonny Corinthos was being forced to marry Lily Rivera for mob business purposes. He did not love her, even though she loved him; but he respected her greatly. When Sonny proposed he quoted a beautiful passage from the Bible that said something like "a good woman is hard to find, and is worth more than diamonds." And so Sonny gave Lily a ruby engagement ring to signify that she was both a good woman and worth more than diamonds. I always loved that scene. Average Joe liked it too (even if it was from a soap opera, he added).

Well I saw Average Joe yesterday, and he was so excited to tell me that that he got Diamonds&Furs a ruby ring for Christmas, and that she absolutely loved it. He said he even used to whole "good woman" schpeel and that it was met with great success. Judging from the smile on his face, I think I know what she gave him for Christmas in return. Good deed accomplished!

And the moral of the story is that 1. it's a good idea to recommend gifts to clueless men, and 2. it's truly worthwhile to watch soap operas. This story is proof positive!