Living in a Material World

All the commercials on TV make diamonds look beautiful and meaningful. Women are always happily receiving one. When I was younger and saw these and saw my mom's rings and what they meant from her it made me want one some day. I didn't know there could be any bad that came from them or that people were hurt and killed to get them. As I learned that girls get a diamond engagement ring, that became the situation in which I would get a diamond like my mother's and it was supposed to make me as happy as the girls who get them on sitcoms and movies. With more attention being pushed on the diamond industry and conflict diamonds my outlook has changed, as I hope many others did as well. We are now aware of conflict diamonds and it makes me very happy to know that most diamonds (we strongly believe) are conflict free. If I so choose to get a diamond one day I can be sure to find one that no one has been killed, tortured, or lost their family for. If this almost guarantee was not there, I don't think I would ever want a diamond. Knowing the methods of mining used for conflict diamonds, I could never wear a stone and think that it was worth the all it cost someone else. There are many other stones that are just as pretty, they just don't fit the story-book wedding or the other traditional romantic gestures (Valentine's Day or anniversary gifts). The songs about diamonds and the movie Blood Diamond are only somewhat good at informing of the facts about the industry. They mostly create an emotional bond to the issue of conflict diamonds. In the movie, we can see the pain and suffering of those people for a shiny rock and the song demonstrates the conflict of denying diamonds that we already have and have become symbolic to us as love, fortune, or power. However, this motivates people to look further into the issue and learn the facts. They get people to become interested enough to find out about conflict diamonds and they probably learn much more this way than they would have been able to from the actors or rap artists. I still might enjoy receiving or giving some form of diamonds eventually, but I would have to be sure of the origin of the diamond. For peace of mind and knowing that I did not lend any support, however small, to the practices of collecting conflict diamonds. From the readings, it does not seem difficult to find a conflict-free diamond and all it takes is a few questions to be sure the diamond is clean. At this point, I think I could be just as happy with another stone anyway. There are lots of beautiful colors out there that are less expensive in more ways than just cost, but the same meaning behind them.