Diamonds under pressure

Imagine yourself buried a hundred miles beneath the earth's surface. You are made of carbon crystals, and the weight of the earth pressing in on you from all sides is condensing you into the purest and toughest substance made by nature.

This is but the beginning of your incredible journey. Lying beneath the earth's surface, hidden under tons of crushing earth, volcanic activity begins to squeeze the liquid kimberlite in which you reside. The pressure begins to build, and continues unrelentingly, until the heavy liquid, laden with its precious cargo, can do nothing but explode up to the surface. You, and thousands of other stones like you, are spewed all over the land; others fall back into the volcanic pipe where they are eventually minded.

You are a diamond, and the incredible pressure you have just experienced makes you one of only a very few substances to reach the earth's surface from its remote depths.

Human beings are like diamonds in many ways. Our character, the purest and toughest part of ourselves, is formed deep within us, and often rises to the surface only when the pressure is greatest. When adversity strikes, it can tear us apart, or it can build us up so that we can face whatever else life may bring. What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger.