This content was first published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review no. 5 in 2018. The information provided here is therefore current as of the original publication date.
Amethysts from Madagascar, Brazilian aquamarines, Colombian emeralds, Ethiopian opals, African diamonds, Mozambican tourmalines, Burmese rubies, sapphires from Sri Lanka. Strangely, 90% of the stones we see in jewelleries come from second and third world countries. And they are brought here, among others, also by people who visit mining areas for work, travel in these countries, meet miners, cutters, as well as waiters, taxi drivers and common people who live their life in utterly different realities than ours. They are stone dealers, first worlders living in affluent territories that, though, do not hesitate to travel on unsurfaced roads. They leave small tips to the local boys to be helped to carry cases of rough material, show porn videos on WhatsApp to people who have never seen a smartphone, drink beer with friends that can scarcely read and write.
I know many stone dealers of the types that prefer going on site! Each with their own personalities, manias, fears, habits, faults. They all come back to the first world with their wonderful stones that will serve to realise the jewels created by skilful local goldsmiths. They bring all kinds of things, but I have never met one that brought with them a racist vision of the world. NEVER! If you drink a beer with a miner who sleeps on the ground under a shelter made of asbestos cement, if you speak of the Coliseum with a person that has never seen the sea, if you attend the funeral of a friend who died thousand km away for the sting of a mosquito, if you travel with your eyes wide open, you understand that racism is only the most stupid and boorish consequence of the fears of first worlders locked in cages of prejudices. If you travel, open your eyes! And if you open your eyes also your mind and heart open.
How wonderful it would be if our beloved gems, containing the life on our planet and expressing serenity and impartiality, helped us to open our heart! How wonderful it would be if, while buying a jewel, we thought that that object holds the work of human beings all over the world! How wonderful it would be if we, at least, in our small sector that shines for the brightness of stones, shone by the warm-heartedness and compassion for other people’s fate! Gems, as the whole nature, teach us to contemplate the mysteries of life, not to speciously judge those we do not know. After seeing the show of beauty or suffering, being racist sucks, being racist is a crime. And to those who believe that a little racism could solve problems, I say that I have seen plenty of problems created by hatred, but I have never seen one solved by hatred.
By Michele Macrì, published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review #5, Autumn 2018.
