On Jewelry, a Passage -- by Alex Ranieri

My friends: I urge you to invest in jewelry. Not, as you may have expected, for the usual reasons--I will not tell you, collect this and this, because their value will appreciate over time, and you will have a bauble or two to leave your grandchildren, and you will remember only the pleasant aspects of your trip to Monaco, forgetting the bad--no, indeed. Rather, I will tell you, invest in jewelry, because when your roses have all been blighted; when your beloved garden has shriveled up into its wintry skeleton, and the last cut flower has turned brown on its stem; then you will need solacing, and a few bits of colored glass are better than nothing.