Which reminds me that when our family visited the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. many years ago we, like so many other thousands of visitors, filed past the Hope diamond displayed there so prominently. I cannot imagine how anyone could ever remove it from its pedestal and why would they want to. I remember reading the fascinating stories of the Hope diamond, its various owners and the calamities that befell them which some attribute to a mysterious curse because it was supposedly removed from some Asian idol in the distant past. It is hard to know what to believe about that. Nevertheless, we personally would have no use for such a huge rock with which we would most likely wring our own necks and make ourselves the target of preying thieves and robbers. In our opinion it is best to let the institution do the job of keeping the Hope diamond in its quarantined and secured location so that no one can have grounds to make any spurious claims of ownership. There are those who are so superstitious that they would not even dare to enter the building or even to cast their eyes upon such a cursed object. I personally doubt that just looking at the inanimate object will have any adverse effect on the sighted person who is not overburdened with silly superstitious notions. Nevertheless, it is a free country and no one is going to drag you kicking and screaming to force you to look upon the Hope diamond if you are really that scared of it. Who did I discuss this with? Pam? I really don't remember. A diamond in the ground is just a very interesting geological formation. It takes a skilled jewel cutter to really make it shine.
