Why are precious metals precious?
What makes platinum, gold, silver, copper and gemstones valuable?
Darned if I know.
The four big shiny things are marvelous conductors of electricity, in descending order; perhaps in millennia long ago they made their wearers tingle or something. And these days they make our hand-held technology tick, though glass fibers — from relatively common sand — are replacing ductile metal strands in communications.
I don’t buy the rarity argument, either. Komodo dragons are rare in New Jersey, but I wouldn’t emulate the gold-panning Forty-Niners and leave my home in a hunt for them.
Shiny rocks.
I wear two pieces of jewelry, both of them signs of a relationship with my beloved and with the Creator who brought her into my life. A simple wedding band and a pendant with the head of Christ under the crown of thorns. My smartwatch doesn’t count as jewelry; it’s a tool (albeit with more apps than I’ll ever use).
Please know, this is not a criticism of folks who wear jewelry. I don’t object to it (as I said, I have some).
I just don’t understand the gold etc. thing. Never have; doubt I ever will.
So every time I hear a radio ad for a gold IRA or see a TV commercial for precious metals, I think about investing in hammers and nails. In vaccines to cure Ebola and river blindness.
Well, maybe some copper. As in pipes to bring clean water everywhere it’s needed.
