I've always found it hard to grasp why humans place such high value in substances such as diamond and gold. I understand that they are very durable as opposed

I've always found it hard to grasp why humans place such high value in substances such as diamond and gold. I understand that they are very durable as opposed to other materials, but their inherent value is something i don't quite understand. Diamonds and gold of course have their industrial applications, but apart from that i really just don't get it. Something also tells me that if this guy wasn't absolutely stinking rich but was just a regular grumpy 70-something, there would be significantly fewer people fawning over his egotistical temperament. In its centre was what looked like a pale twig from a cherry-blossom tree, scattered with creamy droplets of melting snow—tiny diamond beads pierced with silvery pins, gentle, serene and exquisite. It was like a Japanese painting, and it moved me almost to tears. Something tells me i would find it very hard to get along with these people. Anyway, to each their own i guess, it just seems sad that people get so caught up in their own bubbles to the exclusion of things "that matter". Here, i guess, lies the thorny issue: who is to say that there is an absolute measure of "mattering". Personally, i would say it's probably of more importance to work to feed the world's hungry, but i imagine that when one is among an audience who would nonchalantly drop a few hundred thousands on a Shiny Thing, there is bound to be disagreement on that. I admit though that i have no more right than they to decide what constitutes a valid cause, so i am trying to avoid judging. It just seems so, i don't know... wasteful.