After Dinner Mints -by Mark Nowak It is always interesting to discover the origins of our modern traditions, often finding out how different they used to be and how they have changed as society has changed. One wonderful tradition is the use of a diamond as an engagement ring. How many centuries ago did this tradition start? Why a diamond? Does it have a special significance in the area of the world where the tradition originated? The answer to the last question is: you bet it does. In South Africa, where most of the diamonds in the world are mined, there is but one company doing the mining: DeBeers. This same company decides who they distribute their diamonds to for cutting. Yeah, they've got the world on a string, sitting on a rainbow....because the idea of using a diamond as an engagement ring, thought up by our friends at DeBeers in the early part of this century as a way of selling more diamonds, is now a hallowed wedding tradition. What's three months' salary for something that will last forever? A lot, considering diamonds aren't as rare as emeralds or sapphires, but cost more because the good people at DeBeers can charge whatever they want for their product in the absence of competition. So just remember this little fact when the 25th Anniversary Diamond Bracelet is a hallowed anniversary tradition. "Tell her you'd get suckered by a slick marketing ploy...all over again."

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