Engagements and diamond rings

Have you thought of the perfect marriage proposal? This is a very important step therefore for some people the proposal must be perfect. What perfect means? Well for some it means a romantic dinner and/or a trip with a diamond ring. Now, the question is, what do we know about diamond rings? Diamonds are gorgeous, but behind this beautiful jewel it hides violence and corruption. The truth is that in almost all markets we can find corruption and the diamond industry is not an exception. Countries like Sierra Leona, Angola and Congo are known for their black markets and abuse to mine workers. Workers rights are not respected and they earn little money for these beautiful gems, while we are paying exorbitant prices for it. Where does the money goes? The big companies that sell it, and this money is also often use to buy the government to look the other way (see movie Blood Diamond). When buying a diamond ring we must be careful, buying a certificated diamond might be helpful because it assures us that this gems hasn't been stolen. Conflict-free and free-trade diamonds are also an option but they are normally more expensive.
Now that we know a little more about diamonds, girls, do we really want a diamond ring? Nowadays diamonds are common and I certainly wouldn't want an ordinary gem. I think that over the years the big diamond industries have done a great job making us believe that our love can be represented by a diamond. The slogan "a diamond is forever" created by DeBeers on 1947, has become so popular that we even believe that if a diamond is forever so will be our love. I don't want to change people's ideas, but I do want us to think for a bit, I am not trying to kill romanticism, but that's the truth. Every woman is special and we deserve something special and I just don't believe diamonds are that rare anymore. I was reading "Miss Penguin" blog and story about diamonds and it was then I thought for us (women) an engagement can only be represented by a ring. After reading "Miss Penguin" story I thought of a friend of mine and her ideas about proposals; a 'perfect' proposal is when the boy goes down on his knee and asks the question by popping up a diamond ring.
I did some research on the 'perfect proposal' and you can find many ideas on how to tell that special someone how special she or he is, some are casual and other ones are just charming. Now I have some questions for you, how would you like your partner to propose to you? How about just a trip with no ring or how about some other jewel, like a bracelet or a necklace? Instead of diamonds why not pearls or some other gemstone. If you were to change the diamond ring for another precious stone, what would it be?