When I was a kid, my family would go rock hunting. Most rocks have no significant aesthetic value at all, but there are some that do that we looked for: Thunder Eggs, Agates and Petrified Wood. So what rocks are extremely valuable? OK – time for another song, actually album, of the 70’s.

No movie this time, but when I was a kid, I won a couple of albums off of radio contests. One of them was an Aerosmith Album – "ROCKS." Those are diamonds on the cover. Diamonds, particularly diamond rings, are commonly referred to as "Rocks." And they are more than likely much more valuable than other rocks. Here is a famous quote about diamonds...

Now that quote is not totally true. You cannot take a lump of coal and squeeze it and make a diamond like Superman does, so no jokes here about Charlie Brown getting lumps of coal in his trick-or-treat bag. Coal is mostly carbon, and a diamond is pure carbon. It is true that it takes lots of pressure and heat to create a diamond; it takes temperatures over 2000 degrees F. However, carbon does take on another more common form: Graphite. But the carbon molecules in graphite are not as strongly connected as they are in a diamond. See the diagram below...

Notice that graphite carbon atoms are in layers. This allows graphite to be flexible and bend. However, when it bends too far, it shatters. Not true for Diamonds. THEY DO NOT BEND. Amazing that the graphite atoms connect with just three more, but the Diamond connects with four. Four plus one is FIVE, which is what is needed for an XC score! Diamonds are the hardest natural occurring substance on Earth! It is the strongest because of the strong covalent bonds that are equally spaced in a lattice arrangement. Think about what kind of layers and bonds exist within this team! The team that I coached that surprised me the most is one where the senior boys were great friends with the freshman girls... nobody cared who was what class or what gender or what color of hair they had. It didn’t matter if they were into band or into chess, or if they were vegetarians or omnivores.

Now, as an individual, remember the role that pressure plays in creating diamonds.

If you want to be a diamond, you will experience pressure. Embrace the pressure! And now I do get to bring this back to my favorite movie, and the critical scene where William Thatcher will not run from the situation of being pursued. On top of that, two weeks ago, the heroes in Las Vegas were the ones that ran towards the shots being fired, not the ones running away!

So always run to the challenge, not away!