ashamed

We went to see the movie "Blood Diamond" yesterday. It was fantastic, informative, and extremely disturbing. Set in Sierra Leone, it shows children captured by the RUF (Revolutionary United Front), and trained to be soliders in the RUF Army. This takes place through many brain washing steps: 1. They are told that their parents are dead, 2. that their parents are worthless, 3. that their new family is the Army and they will take care of them. They are drugged many times, introduced to alcohol, and indoctrinated to the point where they can carry arms and kill their brothers. Brothers killing brothers, innocent brothers dying so that diamonds make it to buyers who provide cash for arms so the war continues. The phrase "TIA" was repeated several times throughout the movie - this is Africa. But does this have to be Africa? One of the actors asks where is God in this mess and his own response is that God left that God-forsaken place a long time ago.

I cried throughout the whole movie, ashamed that I was wearing a diamond ring on my finger, a symbol of love in North America, but a symbol of death to our friend in Africa. Did you know that the modern tradition of diamonds as a part of engagement in many cultures has been largely created by De Beers through an amazingly effective advertising campaign started in 1938? The "A Diamond is Forever" campaign not only convinced the public that the only suitable gift for engagement is a diamond, but also served to limit the market in used diamonds. This is another powerful example of how our generation needs to be smart consumers, question marketing and question traditions (all done with respect).

To learn more about conflict diamonds (aka blood diamonds), the Kimberly Process (the goals of the Kimberley Process are to document and track all rough diamonds entering a participating country, with shippers placing stones in tamper-proof shipping crates and providing enough detailed information about their origins to prove they did not originate in a conflict zone), and what you can do as a consumer, read the following link: http://jewelry.about.com/cs/diamondmining/a/diamonds.htm. To sign a petition to the American government to have them take a stand on the conflict diamond issue, go to the following link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/870343134.

I'm still processing what this all means for me. I encourage you to take some time to process as well. We can make a difference.