李嘉雯
「Diamonds are forever.」
We constantly hear about this idea through the media. Young men are
encouraged to buy diamonds for their women, and women are encouraged to
expect diamonds on special occasions such as birthdays or marriage
proposals. While diamonds may stand for eternal love, it is exactly
because of our unstable attitudes toward love that we need a precious
stone to affirm our dream for stability.
How did diamonds come to stand for eternal love? Well, I think it has
to do with two important facts. To begin with, diamonds took shape
hundreds of millions years ago and human beings have discovered them for
two thousand years. The process of digging and refining diamonds is a
costly as well as difficult one. To give a simple example, a one-carat
diamond is refined from two hundred and fifty tons of minerals. No
wonder diamonds are so expensive, and you will be delighted when
receiving these unique gifts. Moreover, diamonds are the hardest
naturally occurring substance in the world. They undergo severe
training and cutting again and again to be polished into perfect shapes
and clarity. The dazzling brightness of beautiful diamonds will not
change despite time elapses. The sustaining power and unrivaled beauty
of diamonds thus serve well to symbolize the qualities we desire in
love— a love that would withstand all kinds of tests in life and reach
the dream of eternity.
As media and advertisements equate diamonds with the
quality of love, having or not having this symbol of love and wealth
leaves many people in a constant mood of depression. This is the real
irony— in trying to gain a feeling of stability, our emotions are
manipulated into a deeper sense of instability due to our desire for
material things. Diamonds may be forever; our mood of depression may
last just as long.