What it takes to create a diamond

I learned a long time ago what it takes to create a diamond; pressure, heat and lots of time. A diamond starts as simple carbon. If you've ever seen a chunk of coal you've seen something similar to the beginning of a diamond. I'm sure any geologists will allow me some poetic license and not explain how scientifically the carbon from which diamonds are formed is simply a second or third cousin to coal.

In looking back through my life, I believe I started as a lump of coal. Don't misunderstand me. I don't believe I started as some dirty rock. I believe I started as this piece of life filled with potential. I don't really think I started any differently from you or anyone else really. Just this life with potential.

I'm now at what I hope is the midpoint of my life. I believe I am a diamond. I'm not a perfectly cut and polished diamond, but I have been through much. The heat and pressure of my life has helped me develop into something I had never imagined while under that pressure.

I'm sure your life and the pressure you've endured has done the same with you. That's the point of my writing. I want to share with you the story of how my life of pressure turned me into a diamond. I hope in the sharing you'll see that your life has transformed you into something beautiful also, something which never would have come to be without the pressure.