Diamonds Are Forever

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about . . . diamonds. No, I’m not engaged. Right now any sort of diamond seems about as reachable as those winking in the night sky.

Back in April I wrote a post about characters as diamonds—diamonds in the rough to be exact. Like Aladdin, the protagonist of one of my favorite Disney movies—Aladdin. But the formation of diamonds has my attention these days.

The other day, I watched a National Geographic video on YouTube where a scientist, Professor Stephen Haggerty, described how diamonds are formed. The narrator of the video—let’s just call him Narrator Guy—explained.

Down here [the mantle], intense pressure changes the molecular structure of carbon by crushing its atoms together and forcing them into a new lattice-like structure. Under extreme pressure and temperatures, carbon becomes diamonds.

How hot are those temperatures? 2700 degrees Fahrenheit. “The weight of 4000 grown men standing on your foot,” said Narrator Guy.

So, why I am so interested in diamond formation? Because I can relate. Pressure? Ha. I’m no stranger to it. Every time I see a bill I’m not sure I can pay (and lately, I’ve seen a bunch); every time I hear a “no” on the job front or elsewhere; every time someone asks me, “What are you going to do with that degree?”; every time I face an hurry-it-up deadline, every time I’m back to square one—that’s pressure. The weight of 4000 grown men? I feel it bone deep.

Intense pressure . . . crushing its atoms together. Change is inevitable. But what sort of change? Only God knows.

Maybe you’re feeling the crushing pressure too. Maybe you’re wondering if it will crush you utterly or shape you into something beautiful.

I’ll be interested to see what sort of “new lattice-like structure” develops. After all, diamonds are forever, right?

Rough diamond from Wikipedia.