May You Win Prizes Shining Like Diamonds
“May you win prizes shining like diamonds” – an excerpt from the song Have It All by Jason Mraz
I recently got a chance to go to a gem and mineral show. While the overall theme was the same, the vendors were quite varied. They ranged from jewelers with diamond rings to bead and fossil vendors. Others had polished, shaped quartzes, and then my favorite had rough stones.
There were also some local mineral societies that allowed kids to rummage through big tubs full of rocks and keep one for themselves. My younger ones, of course, enjoyed doing this activity! After much thought, my daughter chose an amethyst crystal, and my son chose a blue sea glass.
At another table (that did not specifically say “for kids only”) my son saw me get excited over a piece of prehnite that looked really cool. He clearly didn’t find it as interesting as I found it, but he asked the man at the table if his mom could keep one stone too! So, in the end, I got to bring home a prize as well.
I liked that our prizes were all different. We all had our own reasons for liking a certain rock. What excites one doesn’t necessarily excite another. And that’s OK.
One of the blind spots we have as human beings is that we have a tendency to assume that everyone thinks the same way you do. For some reason, we get surprised that not everyone has the same opinion. Some people even find this threatening. I see this creating problems in our daily lives all the time.
People often complain about “crazy drivers,” but really, they only look crazy to you because they don’t have the same driving style as you. Politics is another area where, unfortunately, differences of opinions are no longer respected and tolerated. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that we all value different things, and therefore, the person we support would be different too.
If you love faceted, sparkly diamonds, that’s great! But it doesn’t make me wrong for loving the really unique bismuth formations. I also bought a rough, unpolished chunk of aquamarine. Why? Because it makes me feel like I get to hold onto a piece of a rushing river. Yet, I still respect the person who can take that rough stone and cut it into brilliant gemstones.
Each of us have something unique that we prize. I hope we can all learn to appreciate that.