The Gem

 

 I usually lose things, rarely find things. That's why I remember well the only time when I found something beautiful.

It was about 15 years ago. I left a place with my eyes in tears. (that's  another story). While walking on the pavement, I saw through the tears a glitter. It looked like a  zirconia (white, colorless gem) fallen from a ring. It was evening, there was nobody around, the street seemed deserted, so  I picked it up and brought it home.

I opened my jewelry box and fitted the found squarely shaped gem in a  gold setting, and there it stayed; never wore it until recently. Why? I wouldn't have felt comfortable to wear something that had belonged to someone else who unfortunately lost it.

Recently I've decided to put the ring on my finger. A friend suggested that I have the gem checked at a jeweler; 'maybe it's a diamond', he said. I don't think so;  the area where I found it was not one where people wear and lose diamonds.  Besides, I'm pleased with it as it is. I don't care about its market value, and I don't intend to spend money to have it checked by a professional. 

I  like to recall this story.  It was as if God wished to wipe away my tears by making me find the gem. And then, at home to find the perfect setting for it was unbelievable! as if the setting was just waiting  for it. (The gold of the setting is not the usual yellow, but more like the silver color - it's called white gold, methinks, and is perfect match).

Last week the world was informed that the third largest diamond (over 1000 carat) was found in Botswana. Good for Botswana, good for the world! That's good news if we consider the other news that make up our daily life: violence, climate change, covid variants, economy decline.

The Geniuses Among Us

  

A young Intel. officer, a software genius,  was recently found dead in his prison cell. The details were banned from publication.  According to the media  he was a phenomenon in the field of computer from an  early age. 

 
One of the speculations is that his abilities have aroused the envy / anger of his superiors, his activity got suppressed. As a result, he  planned revenge that would  have harmed  them, and the country. Perhaps he has even managed to carry out some of these plans.  Anyway, he was arrested and jailed. Now he's dead (rip).

Besides the obvious tragedy of the loss of a young bright man,  and the mystery (yet to be uncovered) וmposed on the case ׂׂ -  the event brings to mind the  concept of  'genius' (a person of extraordinary talent) and the list of geniuses among us - past and present.

There is a nice, little  poem  with the name 'The geniuses among us'  by Marilyn L Taylor, Wisconsin poet laureate. She calls them 'high perennials above all the rest of us',  'bright testimonials to the scale of human possibility.' These people, according to her poem - 'take us by surprise every generation , with unprecedented notions and visions'.

So far, the  great minds of  the past ( like Einstein) and present  (like Bill Gates) - have submitted the fruits of their genius, to the country, to the world, for the benefit of mankind. (As a matter of fact, not every invention was for the benefit of the world - the atomic bomb, for instance. R. Oppenheimer was "the father" of the Nuke.).

But times are changing. Perhaps these geniuses are beginning  to feel underappreciated,  even bullied. There's danger in this as the next stage could be something like: "either I rule or I destroy."  Words like 'majority', 'democracy' might mean nothing to these bright people as the above notions already mean quite  little to the average individual.