Apart from any logical argument for postponing one’s “Ring by Spring” engagement until both parties have a stable job and have been dating for more than a year, there are a multitude of reasons not to purchase a diamond ring for your college sweetheart.
To begin, I will provide a brief history of the lie campaign that is diamond rings. According to The Atlantic, purchasing diamonds for an engagement did not become common until the 1930s. Even still, the practice only became the standard as late as the 1950s.
During the late 1930s, the De Beers Group of Companies made an immense diamond find in South Africa. The discovery was so large the company monopolized the market across the world by buying the largest diamond mines.
Here we find the largest red flag—a single company has a massive stockpile of diamonds and launches an equally large marketing campaign to convince young men and women a diamond is symbolic of love and marriage.
Meanwhile, the company slipped several phrases into our vernacular like “diamonds are forever” and “promise of the heart,” which reframed public opinion on the diamond. The company even went so far as to hire lecturers to speak about diamonds at high schools in order to create this “need” for diamonds.
Not only is this deceiving, it acts as a harsh reminder that marketing and advertising can be used as a dangerous force to coerce potential buyers into making purchases they absolutely do not need nor even want. The creation of want is unfortunately no clearer than in the case of the diamond industry.
So, I ask you, faithful reader, how much is a diamond ring worth to you? Now you know what it costs—the lies and lives—think before making your decision on your “Ring By Spring.”
Find a gem that means something to you and your significant other on a more personal level rather than an artificial want created by a company—something that does not cost blood, something other than a diamond.
If you are faithfully committed to the diamond as your gemstone of choice, search for companies that mine their diamonds ethically with respect to both the environment and people.
