| The
Diamond-Just Another Rock?
After we've qualified as potential jewels, we undergo a beauty
makeover that transforms us from ordinary looking rocks into
extraordinary looking jewels. Makeover artists, also called
diamond cutters, are in charge of this process. When they
are finished, we start entering beauty contests. To get top
scores in these contests, diamonds must have a lively and
sparkling personality, an attractive shape, a clean character,
and individual charm. The judging is subjective and often
there are hot debates over the scoring, particularly when
large sums of prize money are at stake.
You might expect that the winners of these beauty contests
have the best lives. More often than not they end up stuck
in a safe deposit box, especially the large diamonds. It's
true that life as a drill is a real bore, but life in a dark
lonely box is not much better. Occasionally, some of the winners
end up in museums and have a pretty good life, but those diamonds
that end up the happiest are those worn day in and day out
by you. Yet these are not normally the diamonds with the highest
scores.
I
suspect you find it strange that I talk about diamonds being
happy. Plato and other great philosophers knew that we diamonds
are living beings and have the same types of feelings as humans,
but for some reason, most of you don't want to accept this
fact. Let me assure you that we diamonds do have feelings,
both positive and negative.
We
are angered and hurt when people are duped into losing their
life savings on us, when workers in the diamond industry are
exploited, when arguments, robberies, murders, and wars occur
because of us. Somebody even told us that we were part of
the cause of the French revolution. It had something to do
with a diamond necklace scandal. But, on second thought, maybe
our role in that scandal was more positive than negative.
When terrible things happen because of us, blame yourselves
for misusing diamonds, don't blame us.
Fortunately life is not all bad; we do a lot of good. We create
jobs for hundreds of thousands of people. We give people a
means of escaping from oppressive governments. Non-jewel diamonds
help supply you with food, energy, transportation, medical
equipment, and comfortable homes.
All of this good gives us great satisfaction, but there is
something that gives us even more pleasure. It's when our
mere presence makes man happy. What a joy it is to see the
delight in the eye of newlyweds admiring their diamond wedding
rings. What a joy it is to see
a widow's grief interrupted by memories of some of the happiest
moments of her life, as she looks down at her diamond engagement
ring. What a joy it is to see people momentarily forget their
everyday worries and frustrations and focus on thoughts of
beauty and love, as they glance at us on their hands or wrists.
As long as you enjoy us and use us toward good ends, we diamonds
don't expect anything in return for brightening up your lives.
Well, maybe that's a bit of a lie. We will be bold enough
to ask one little favor of you. It's this: If anyone ever
tries to tell you that the diamond is just another rock, please
tell him he's full of poppycock.
When
you heat
Ordinary
looking rocks
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