Pacified by Gold

Those who watch pop culture in the United States have observed that over the last few years babies have become hot accessories. We don't want to be flip, but yes, cultural critics have felt as if the baby boom in Hollywood is somehow related to a trend and not natural population growth.

We really cannot say whether or not this is true. People have children when they do and since Hollywood is like a small town that every focuses on this may seem to be a trend, when really it is just the cycle of life.

What we can say is that in recent years baby accessories (and not the babies themselves) have gotten more and more press. But this may not be new either. People have probably been trying to top each other with extravagant baby gifts since the time of the pharaohs.

So we were surprised to hear that a very costly baby gift, one made of gold, had gone on sale, not in Hollywood, but in Dubai. Then again, gifts made of gold to welcome babies have been traditional in this part of the world for quite a while.

It seems that the best dressed babies in Dubai can add 18 carat gold pacifiers to their outfits. We imagine that such a gift would become a family heirloom that might be passed on to other family members.

Or, as is the case with the gold bracelets that some women in this part of the world get when they get  married, a gold pacifier could act as an insurance policy against hard times. Someone might hold onto a gold pacifier and if they recognize the value of gold, they could sell gold to a gold buyer if hard times hit.