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The Necklace in the Window
Jonell McLain, 58, moved purposefully through the mall, shopping only for a box of candy for a real estate client. She paused to glance in the window of Van Gundy and Sons, a venerable family-owned jewelry store in Ventura, California. Usually Jonell's glances were as quick as her strides, but this time she stopped and stared.In the center display case, a diamond necklace glittered against black velvet. The diamonds were strung in a single strand all the way to the clasp, the center diamond the largest, the two closest to the clasp the smallest. The gradations were minuscule, the effect breathtaking.
Jonell owned a few pieces of good jewelry, but a luxury necklace was something else. She wondered, What would it feel like to wear something so extravagant, so lovely? On a whim, she entered the store. "May I see the necklace in the window?" she asked.
When the diamond stunner was around her neck, Jonell took a deep breath and, exhaling, asked the price.
"Thirty-seven thousand dollars," said the saleswoman.
Jonell gasped.
Who buys a $37,000 necklace?
Looking in the mirror again, she couldn't help but think of the choices she'd made in her life -- choices that guaranteed she could never afford a necklace like this. She was a real estate agent, married with two children. In her spare time, she mentored disadvantaged kids. Though she lived a comfortable life, there wasn't room for excessive spending on things like fancy jewelry.
Deep in thought, she heard just snippets of the saleswoman's words: The necklace has 118 diamonds … brilliant-cut … mined from nonconflict areas … 15.24 carats. But none of it mattered. In a world overflowing with need, Jonell felt that owning a $37,000 necklace was morally indefensible.
She handed it back and left the store. But she couldn't forget it.
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