Diamonds are a girl's best friend, and during an engagement or wedding, girls will normally like it if they receive a diamond ring of some sort, which they can then show off to their friends. Of course getting a diamond ring is not (and should not be) the ultimate test of how much a guy loves you, but being girls, we all like to be pampered once in a while.
A pure diamond is sparkling and bright, and lasts forever. There are a few cuts to a diamond, namely princess and solitaire to name a few. Diamonds can come in various sizes too, like less than one carat to tens of carats. The common diamond is the white, or transparent type. However, there are some other rare ones like the blue diamond (as seen in "Titanic" - The Heart Of The Ocean), pink diamond (like the "Pink Panther"), or other coloured ones. Needless to say, these are much more expensive.
Diamonds, like other stones (sapphire, ruby) are so costly because there is a lot of work involved in mining and extracting them. Places where traces of diamond deposits are found will usually require hard labour and many hours of panning and extracting before a few small diamonds can be found. If one is lucky, he can find a big coloured one.
Unfortunately, those places rich in diamond ores are normally the poverty striken countries of Africa. When traces of diamonds are found, the natives are then required to toil and slave so that whatever diamonds found will then be sold to buyers (often white men), who then sell to big jewellery companies that then make the diamonds into necklaces or whatnots, and sell to the rich at exorbitant prices. This is why the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.
If only people know just how unscrupulous some diamond merchants are in obtaining the diamonds at all costs. In the show "Blood Diamond", there are so many bloodshed and killings going on just to pan for diamonds. Poor African countries often have rebels who take away young boys and inculcate hatred in them so as to train them to be boy soldiers to look after the miners. These children have been trained to kill without battling an eyelid.
Villages are plummeted, people are killed, houses burnt. Women and children have to escape and become refugees in a neighbouring country. Strong men are then taken to work in the diamond mines, panning for diamonds, and whatever they found will be given over to the rebel soldiers. Those who kept any diamond for themselves will be killed on the spot.
White men who set up camp around those areas will not bat an eyelid in killing all the miners and rebels, as long as they get their diamonds. Diamonds equal money, oodles and oodles of it, and people will not hesitate to kill for money. And all for what? Just so sometime later, someone will get to wear that on some parts of the body. Like what that journalist said in the show, once you see something like this, somehow you find the cosmopolitan life of gossip, materialism and drinking latte meaningless.
It is not stated if this show is based on true events. But it is not impossible that the diamond trade comes with a very high price, and I am not talking in terms of monetary value, but human lives and sacrifices. I do not think all are like that, because there are many legitimate organisations who go through proper channels and reasonable employment to mine diamonds. At the end of the show, the message is to stop buying conflict diamonds. Do not buy anything that comes with such a high price.
However, how would one know if the diamonds are illegal? The reason people get diamonds at any cost is because there is a demand, and a high market. The more affluent ones are able to afford and buy diamonds anytime they like. It is because of this demand that people continue exploiting the poor and get a huge profit for themselves. By right, if the diamonds are found on their land, is it any right of anyone to take away? Will it not be like stealing from the poor?
I have to be more careful if and when I step into a jewellery shop in one of my moods for indulgence. I have to make sure the jewellery I buy consist of stones that come from proper legitimate organisations, and not smuggled in illegally, especially not those that comes with so many human lives attached, because even though diamonds are forever, but lives are not.
A pure diamond is sparkling and bright, and lasts forever. There are a few cuts to a diamond, namely princess and solitaire to name a few. Diamonds can come in various sizes too, like less than one carat to tens of carats. The common diamond is the white, or transparent type. However, there are some other rare ones like the blue diamond (as seen in "Titanic" - The Heart Of The Ocean), pink diamond (like the "Pink Panther"), or other coloured ones. Needless to say, these are much more expensive.
Diamonds, like other stones (sapphire, ruby) are so costly because there is a lot of work involved in mining and extracting them. Places where traces of diamond deposits are found will usually require hard labour and many hours of panning and extracting before a few small diamonds can be found. If one is lucky, he can find a big coloured one.
Unfortunately, those places rich in diamond ores are normally the poverty striken countries of Africa. When traces of diamonds are found, the natives are then required to toil and slave so that whatever diamonds found will then be sold to buyers (often white men), who then sell to big jewellery companies that then make the diamonds into necklaces or whatnots, and sell to the rich at exorbitant prices. This is why the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.
If only people know just how unscrupulous some diamond merchants are in obtaining the diamonds at all costs. In the show "Blood Diamond", there are so many bloodshed and killings going on just to pan for diamonds. Poor African countries often have rebels who take away young boys and inculcate hatred in them so as to train them to be boy soldiers to look after the miners. These children have been trained to kill without battling an eyelid.
Villages are plummeted, people are killed, houses burnt. Women and children have to escape and become refugees in a neighbouring country. Strong men are then taken to work in the diamond mines, panning for diamonds, and whatever they found will be given over to the rebel soldiers. Those who kept any diamond for themselves will be killed on the spot.
White men who set up camp around those areas will not bat an eyelid in killing all the miners and rebels, as long as they get their diamonds. Diamonds equal money, oodles and oodles of it, and people will not hesitate to kill for money. And all for what? Just so sometime later, someone will get to wear that on some parts of the body. Like what that journalist said in the show, once you see something like this, somehow you find the cosmopolitan life of gossip, materialism and drinking latte meaningless.
It is not stated if this show is based on true events. But it is not impossible that the diamond trade comes with a very high price, and I am not talking in terms of monetary value, but human lives and sacrifices. I do not think all are like that, because there are many legitimate organisations who go through proper channels and reasonable employment to mine diamonds. At the end of the show, the message is to stop buying conflict diamonds. Do not buy anything that comes with such a high price.
However, how would one know if the diamonds are illegal? The reason people get diamonds at any cost is because there is a demand, and a high market. The more affluent ones are able to afford and buy diamonds anytime they like. It is because of this demand that people continue exploiting the poor and get a huge profit for themselves. By right, if the diamonds are found on their land, is it any right of anyone to take away? Will it not be like stealing from the poor?
I have to be more careful if and when I step into a jewellery shop in one of my moods for indulgence. I have to make sure the jewellery I buy consist of stones that come from proper legitimate organisations, and not smuggled in illegally, especially not those that comes with so many human lives attached, because even though diamonds are forever, but lives are not.
