By Kevin Parker
(inspired by Russell Conwell’s original lecture)
“You already have within you everything you need to turn your life into a masterpiece.”
— Deepak Chopra
Introduction: A Parable for Our Times
In the late 19th century, American minister and educator Russell H. Conwell captivated audiences with a lecture titled Acres of Diamonds. He told the poignant parable of Ali Hafed, a prosperous Persian farmer who, driven by stories of diamond mines and instant wealth, sold his land and embarked on a fruitless search. Ultimately, Hafed died penniless, unaware that the very land he abandoned would soon yield one of the richest diamond deposits in history. Conwell’s message resonated clearly: “Your own field or backyard may be full of diamonds—if only you have eyes to see and the will to work it.”¹
More than a century later, this parable remains profoundly relevant, especially when reframed through the lens of contemporary social justice and community resilience. The modern “diamonds” are the invaluable yet often overlooked local resources—human, ecological, cultural—that hold the power to transform communities from within. For today’s activists and community organizers, Conwell’s philosophy offers both a critique of misplaced priorities and a roadmap for discovering transformative potential in the most unexpected places.
Russell Conwell: From Battlefield to Pulpit
Understanding the depth of Conwell’s message requires appreciating the extraordinary journey that shaped his worldview. Born in 1843 in South Worthington, Massachusetts, Conwell grew up in modest circumstances on a small farm—a background that would later inform his appreciation for finding value in humble surroundings.² His early life was marked by restlessness and ambition, traits that initially led him away from his roots.
As a young man, Conwell enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, where a transformative incident occurred that would haunt and inspire him for decades. When his orderly, Johnny Ring, died retrieving Conwell’s ceremonial sword from a burning tent, the future minister was overcome with guilt and a sense of spiritual debt. This tragedy catalyzed a profound personal transformation, leading Conwell to dedicate his life to service.³
After the war, Conwell pursued law, journalism, and eventually ministry, but it was his founding of Temple University in 1884 that most embodied his philosophy. Starting as night classes for working-class Philadelphians in his Baptist church, Temple University represented Conwell’s belief that education—one of life’s most precious diamonds—should be accessible to those willing to work for it, regardless of their economic circumstances.⁴ By the time of his death in 1925, Conwell had delivered his “Acres of Diamonds” lecture over 6,000 times, using the proceeds to fund scholarships for thousands of students.
The Philosophy Unveiled: Beyond Material Wealth
While often misunderstood as a simple prosperity gospel message, Conwell’s philosophy contains layers of meaning particularly relevant to contemporary social movements. At its core, “Acres of Diamonds” challenges three destructive myths that continue to plague modern activism:
The Myth of Geographical Cure
Conwell observed how people consistently believed that opportunity lay elsewhere—in California’s gold fields, in distant cities, in foreign lands. This “grass is greener” syndrome, he argued, blinded people to the resources and opportunities in their immediate environment. For today’s activists, this translates into a tendency to focus on high-profile national or international causes while neglecting pressing local injustices.
The Myth of External Validation
The parable critiques the human tendency to value only what others have deemed valuable. Ali Hafed didn’t recognize his land’s worth until he heard stories of diamonds elsewhere. Similarly, communities often fail to recognize their own assets—cultural traditions, local knowledge, social networks—until external “experts” validate them.
The Myth of Passive Waiting
Conwell emphasized that diamonds must be mined, cut, and polished. Raw potential requires active cultivation. This principle challenges both the defeatism that pervades struggling communities and the savior mentality that assumes change must come from outside intervention.
🌱 The Myth of Elsewhere in an Age of Globalization
Our digital era seduces us with the relentless allure of “elsewhere”—idealized far-off places, distant successes, and elusive fulfillment. Social media amplifies this tendency, presenting curated glimpses of impact and success that always seem to be happening somewhere else. Activists gravitate toward international causes, entrepreneurs look to emerging overseas markets, and spiritual seekers travel continents in search of enlightenment. Yet, in this relentless external quest, we risk becoming the new Ali Hafeds, abandoning communities and ecosystems rich with untapped potential and inherent worth.
The environmental movement particularly suffers from this elsewhere-ism. While international climate conferences and remote rainforest preservation capture headlines and funding, local watersheds deteriorate, urban heat islands expand, and neighborhood green spaces disappear. As environmental justice advocate Majora Carter observes, “Environmental justice [means] no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits than any other.”⁵ The diamonds of environmental resilience often lie not in distant wilderness but in urban community gardens, local renewable energy cooperatives, and indigenous land management practices.
Social and spiritual leader Eckhart Tolle underscores this point succinctly: “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.”⁶ In this realization lies a powerful antidote to the restlessness of modern ambition and the beginnings of authentic engagement with one’s immediate environment.
🔍 Discovering Diamonds in Overlooked Places
For contemporary social justice movements, these hidden diamonds represent multifaceted resources often rendered invisible by dominant narratives of deficiency and need. Consider the following overlooked treasures:
Community Resilience and Social Capital
The profound resilience and ingenuity of marginalized communities, often dismissed by dominant narratives, represents perhaps the most valuable overlooked resource. In Detroit, for instance, amid narratives of urban decay, residents have created one of the most innovative urban agriculture movements in the nation. The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network has transformed vacant lots into productive farms, simultaneously addressing food insecurity, community health, and economic development.⁷
Ecological Wisdom and Local Ecosystems
The vitality of local ecosystems that sustain life yet are ignored in favor of distant conservation projects contains immense untapped potential. Urban ecologist Steward Pickett notes that cities contain surprising biodiversity and ecological complexity, often supporting rare species and providing crucial ecosystem services.⁸ These urban nature diamonds—from pollinator corridors to wetlands that filter stormwater—offer immediate opportunities for environmental action.
Indigenous and Ancestral Knowledge
Indigenous and ancestral wisdom systems capable of guiding sustainable living practices and ethical governance represent diamonds of incalculable value. Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, writes: “In some Native languages the term for plants translates to ‘those who take care of us.'”⁹ This reciprocal worldview offers profound alternatives to extractive relationships with land and resources.
Educational and Creative Capital
Creative brilliance residing within underfunded educational institutions and economically depressed neighborhoods constitutes another category of overlooked diamonds. Programs like El Sistema in Venezuela, which provides classical music education to children in underserved communities, demonstrate how investing in local creative potential can transform entire communities.¹⁰
Author and activist bell hooks captures this transformative potential: “The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is—it’s to imagine what is possible.”¹¹ Indeed, recognizing these diamonds is itself an artistic and imaginative act, demanding we shift our perspectives toward possibility rather than deficiency.
Proximity as Practice: Getting Close to Community Diamonds
Civil rights advocate Bryan Stevenson offers crucial guidance for diamond-seekers: “You can’t understand most of the important things from a distance. You have to get close.”¹² This principle of proximity challenges the detached, technocratic approach often employed by well-meaning outsiders attempting to “fix” communities.
Proximity operates on multiple levels:
Physical Proximity: Actually being present in communities, not just visiting for data collection or photo opportunities. This means establishing offices, holding meetings, and building relationships in the neighborhoods where change is sought.
Emotional Proximity: Developing genuine empathy and connection with community members, moving beyond statistics to understand lived experiences and aspirations.
Cultural Proximity: Taking time to understand local customs, communication styles, and decision-making processes rather than imposing external frameworks.
Temporal Proximity: Committing to long-term presence rather than short-term interventions, recognizing that trust and transformation require sustained engagement.
🧭 Redefining Wealth for Collective Flourishing
Russell Conwell originally spoke into a cultural context steeped in individualism and prosperity theology. Today’s reimagined message calls us toward communal definitions of wealth rooted in justice, equity, sustainability, and collective wellbeing. This shift requires fundamental reconceptualization of what constitutes a “diamond” in community work.
From Extraction to Cultivation
Traditional development models often approach communities as sites of extraction—of data, stories, or resources to be used elsewhere. The diamonds philosophy suggests instead a cultivation approach, where local assets are nurtured and grown for community benefit. This might mean supporting local entrepreneurs rather than attracting outside businesses, or developing community land trusts rather than enabling gentrification.
From Scarcity to Abundance
Activist Adrienne Maree Brown articulates this modern vision: “Small is good, small is all… The large is a reflection of the small.”¹³ Her emergent strategy proposes that authentic systemic change emerges from micro-level actions and interpersonal connections. This abundance mindset recognizes that communities possess numerous assets—time, skills, relationships, culture—that conventional economic measures fail to capture.
From Individual to Collective Success
Where Conwell’s original message could be interpreted as individualistic, contemporary applications emphasize collective wealth-building. The Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio, exemplify this approach, creating worker-owned businesses that build wealth for entire communities rather than individual entrepreneurs.¹⁴
🌍 Practical Steps: Translating Vision into Action
Modern-day “Ali Hafeds”—burned-out activists, discouraged entrepreneurs, weary students—can embrace practical pathways to uncovering diamonds through systematic approaches:
1. Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)
Rather than beginning with needs assessments that catalog deficiencies, ABCD approaches start by mapping community assets. John Kretzmann and John McKnight, pioneers of this approach, identify six categories of community assets: individuals, associations, institutions, physical assets, economic assets, and stories.¹⁵ This methodology has been successfully applied in contexts ranging from rural Appalachia to urban Chicago.
2. Participatory Action Research
This approach positions community members as co-researchers rather than subjects, recognizing that those closest to challenges often possess the deepest insights into solutions. The Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee has used this methodology for decades, supporting grassroots organizing from the civil rights movement to contemporary environmental justice campaigns.¹⁶
3. Community Wealth Building
The Democracy Collaborative has developed comprehensive strategies for keeping wealth circulating within communities through local procurement, worker cooperatives, and community land ownership. These approaches treat local economic capacity as a diamond to be polished rather than a deficiency to be addressed through outside investment.¹⁷
4. Ecological Restoration as Community Development
Organizations like Green City Force in New York City demonstrate how environmental restoration can simultaneously build community wealth. By training young adults from public housing to perform ecological restoration work, they address environmental degradation while creating career pathways for community members.¹⁸
Case Studies: Contemporary Diamond Miners
The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (Boston)
In one of Boston’s most disinvested neighborhoods, residents refused to accept narratives of inevitable decline. Instead, they identified and leveraged community assets: strong social networks among diverse ethnic groups, strategic location near downtown, and residents’ determination to control their own destiny. Through organizing, they became the first community group in the United States to win the power of eminent domain, using it to create permanently affordable housing and community spaces. Today, Dudley Street stands as a model of community-controlled development.¹⁹
Gaviotas (Colombia)
In the seemingly barren llanos of Colombia, a community of innovators saw potential where others saw wasteland. By developing appropriate technology adapted to local conditions—including water pumps powered by children’s seesaws and solar collectors that work in cloudy conditions—Gaviotas has created a sustainable community while regenerating rainforest. Founder Paolo Lugari embodies the diamonds philosophy: “When we import solutions from the North, we also import their problems… Third World tropics have the opportunity to leap to the future.”²⁰
The Zapatista Communities (Chiapas, Mexico)
Following their 1994 uprising, the Zapatista communities have built autonomous systems of governance, education, and healthcare based on indigenous practices and local resources. Their slogan “Everything for everyone, nothing for ourselves” represents a radical reinterpretation of wealth that prioritizes collective wellbeing over individual accumulation. Despite material poverty, these communities have achieved literacy rates and health outcomes that surpass many wealthier regions of Mexico.²¹
Conwell’s Enduring Legacy: A Philosophy for Movement Building
Russell Conwell’s legacy extends far beyond the institutions he founded or the students he supported. His philosophy offers contemporary movements a powerful framework for reimagining social change. This legacy manifests in several key principles:
Democratization of Opportunity
Just as Conwell democratized education through Temple University, modern movements can democratize access to resources, decision-making, and wealth-building. This might mean creating community-controlled grantmaking processes, establishing participatory budgeting, or developing open-source technologies.
Sacred Ordinary
Conwell’s message sanctifies the ordinary, finding profound value in common places and everyday people. This perspective challenges movements to move beyond celebrity activism and charismatic leadership toward distributed, grassroots organizing that honors every community member’s contribution.
Pragmatic Idealism
While Conwell dreamed big—imagining a university accessible to all—he started small, with night classes in a church basement. This combination of vision and pragmatism offers a model for movements that seek transformation while working within existing constraints.
🔮 Conclusion: Embracing the Relational Treasure
Russell Conwell’s narrative speaks poignantly to current challenges of justice and equity. The story of Ali Hafed reminds us vividly that true wealth is relational and local rather than distant and abstract. In an era of global crisis—climate change, inequality, democratic erosion—the temptation to seek solutions elsewhere intensifies. Yet Conwell’s philosophy suggests that the seeds of transformation lie within our communities, waiting to be recognized, cultivated, and shared.
As Thich Nhat Hanh poignantly remarked, “The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green Earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment.”²² Today, the ultimate act of justice and resistance may well be to slow down, look deeply, and nurture the profound riches already surrounding us—right beneath our feet.
The diamonds awaiting discovery in our communities are not merely material resources but relationships, knowledge systems, cultural practices, and collective wisdom that can guide us toward more just and sustainable futures. For environmental activists, this means recognizing that the most powerful climate solutions may emerge from frontline communities already adapting to environmental challenges. For social justice organizers, it means understanding that those most affected by injustice possess invaluable insights into creating just alternatives.
In closing, we might reimagine Ali Hafed’s story not as a cautionary tale about individual folly but as a collective call to action. What if, instead of abandoning his land, Ali Hafed had invited his neighbors to explore its potential together? What if he had seen the visiting priest’s stories not as a reason to leave but as inspiration to look more deeply at home? In these alternative endings lie blueprints for contemporary movements that honor local wisdom while working toward global transformation.
The acres of diamonds beneath our feet await not individual prospectors but communities of gardeners, ready to cultivate shared abundance from common ground. In this work lies both the challenge and the promise of Conwell’s enduring message: that the resources for transformation are already here, already ours, already enough—if only we have eyes to see and the will to work together.
Notes
- Russell H. Conwell, Acres of Diamonds (Philadelphia: Harper & Brothers, 1915), 4, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/378.
- Agnes Rush Burr, Russell H. Conwell and His Work (Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company, 1926), 23-45.
- William C. Kashatus, “Russell Conwell’s Journey from Soldier to Minister,” Pennsylvania History 71, no. 4 (2004): 456-478.
- James Hilty, Temple University: 125 Years of Service to Philadelphia, the Nation, and the World (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2010), 12-34.
- Majora Carter, “Greening the Ghetto,” TED Talk, February 2006, https://www.ted.com/talks/majora_carter_greening_the_ghetto.
- Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (Novato, CA: New World Library, 1999), 35.
- Monica M. White, Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018), 145-167.
- Steward T. A. Pickett et al., “Urban Ecological Systems: Linking Terrestrial Ecological, Physical, and Socioeconomic Components of Metropolitan Areas,” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 32 (2001): 127-157.
- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Plant of Plants (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2013), 5.
- Geoffrey Baker, El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela’s Youth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 78-102.
- bell hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (New York: Routledge, 1994), 281.
- Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2014), 14.
- Adrienne Maree Brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (Chico, CA: AK Press, 2017), 41.
- Ted Howard and Lillian Kuri, “The Cleveland Model,” Stanford Social Innovation Review 11, no. 2 (2013): 29-35.
- John Kretzmann and John McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets (Chicago: ACTA Publications, 1993), 1-11.
- John M. Glen, Highlander: No Ordinary School (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996), 234-256.
- Thomas M. Hanna, “Community Wealth Building: A Critical Approach to Local Economic Development,” Renewal 26, no. 2 (2018): 38-48.
- Tonya Gayle, “Green City Force: Building Careers and Community,” Solutions 9, no. 3 (2018): 67-72.
- Peter Medoff and Holly Sklar, Streets of Hope: The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood (Boston: South End Press, 1994), 123-145.
- Alan Weisman, Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 1998), 56.
- Dylan Eldredge Fitzwater, Autonomy Is in Our Hearts: Zapatista Autonomous Government through the Lens of the Tsotsil Language (Oakland: PM Press, 2019), 89-112.
- Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life (New York: Bantam Books, 1992), 12.
Bibliography
Brown, Adrienne Maree. Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. Chico, CA: AK Press, 2017.
Burr, Agnes Rush. Russell H. Conwell and His Work. Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company, 1926.
Carter, Majora. “Greening the Ghetto.” TED Talk, February 2006. https://www.ted.com/talks/majora_carter_greening_the_ghetto.
Conwell, Russell H. Acres of Diamonds. Philadelphia: Harper & Brothers, 1915. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/378.
Fitzwater, Dylan Eldredge. Autonomy Is in Our Hearts: Zapatista Autonomous Government through the Lens of the Tsotsil Language. Oakland: PM Press, 2019.
Glen, John M. Highlander: No Ordinary School. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996.
Hanh, Thich Nhat. Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life. New York: Bantam Books, 1992.
Hanna, Thomas M. “Community Wealth Building: A Critical Approach to Local Economic Development.” Renewal 26, no. 2 (2018): 38-48.
Hilty, James. Temple University: 125 Years of Service to Philadelphia, the Nation, and the World. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2010.
hooks, bell. Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Howard, Ted, and Lillian Kuri. “The Cleveland Model.” Stanford Social Innovation Review 11, no. 2 (2013): 29-35.
Kashatus, William C. “Russell Conwell’s Journey from Soldier to Minister.” Pennsylvania History 71, no. 4 (2004): 456-478.
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Plant of Plants. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2013.
Kretzmann, John, and John McKnight. Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. Chicago: ACTA Publications, 1993.
Medoff, Peter, and Holly Sklar. Streets of Hope: The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood. Boston: South End Press, 1994.
Pickett, Steward T. A., et al. “Urban Ecological Systems: Linking Terrestrial Ecological, Physical, and Socioeconomic Components of Metropolitan Areas.” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 32 (2001): 127-157.
Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2014.
Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Novato, CA: New World Library, 1999.
Weisman, Alan. Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 1998.
White, Monica M. Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018.