Gold, what does it mean to you?

For a long time, gold has been a desirable metal. In fact, it would not be inaccurate to suggest that gold is quite possible the most favoured metal on Earth. It is so historic, so very well connected and oh so powerful. To me, gold means one thing, it means success and achievement. As a keen sportsman, I always connect gold to winning, you win an Olympic gold medal for being the best in the world at a certain discipline you’ve training your whole life for.

Gold is such an emotive word, it means different things to different people. As a result of this, I was very keen to find out what people thought about when the word gold was mentioned. This article is the result of that research.

Many people who I spoke with agreed that gold meant jewelry, bracelets, quality necklaces. Others said that they thought about noblemen and monarchs, their crowns and costumes laced with gold. They thought of rich people who could afford gold and wanted to show it off to remind others of their glory.

Other people always related gold to currency or as a payment mechanism. Every major company keeps a huge amount of gold in reserve. In fact the richness of a country can be measured by how much gold they have. It is traded daily throughout the world, the value of gold is relatively steady, especially compared with currency, where it’s complete value can be wiped out overnight.

One or two people that I spoke with said that gold reminded them of adventure. A time of freedom and opportunities, a time when a country was gripped by a sudden rush to find gold. A gold rush could literally spark life and build communities. It has also become part of our nation’s consciousness as we build a society that is not hampered in desire. Metaphorically speaking, we still have modern day gold rushes such as the dotcom boom of the mid 1990’s.

Amazingly, I spoke to one proud couple who were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. To them, gold meant longevity, trust and passion. It was very precious to them, as they were to each other. They reminded me of the recent Golden Jubilee of the Queen in the United Kingdom.

The more that I conversed with people, the more I began to realize just how many different types of emotion and connection people can have with gold. Even a conversation with a scientist, not renowned for looking at things in non-scientific ways described their connection to the precious metal. Gold is an extremely useful metal, its used every day in our personal computers, our planes and other devices. In a way, we rely on gold.

So in summary, gold is as precious as can be. It has been part of our lives for generations, helping us, motivating us, inspiring us. It helps to improve our way of life and how we communicate with each other. It has also achieved what so many of us have failed at, it has broken down barriers and in so become a universal language of its own.