It's Been a While Since I've Ranted

Have you missed my ranting? I hope so. Because I have some things to talk about. Things that I have been hearing in the news and such that's really been grinding my gears.

So, I don't know if you've heard, but Sean Combs/ P.Diddy/ Diddy/whatever-he-is-choosing-to-be-called has a son who is going to be playing football for UCLA next year. The kid was a star football player at his high school, he had a high GPA, and he got a full scholarship for it. That's good news, right? Well, according to certain Americans, no it's not. Apparently, he doesn't deserve it because his dad is rich and can already afford to send him to college, so it isn't fair.

GIVE ME A BREAK. It's things like this that make me sincerely alarmed for the state of America. Because people have completely lost sight of the American mentality that people who work hard get rewarded for it. It used to be as simple as that.

I knew plenty of people whose parents could very well afford to send them to college and then some, but they didn't because they wanted their kid to work for their education and to value it even more. I also knew plenty of people who paid for their own college because there was no way their parents could afford it. So, in both of these situations, they worked hard, saved money, got good grades, and got scholarships. That's the way it should be!

And there's one more thing: the students who are, according to the whining people in Diddy's kid's case, "less fortunate" do have help. It's called grants. The students whose parents are well off but don't pay for their kids' education are automatically disqualified from being considered for grants. So why don't we whine about that? Is that fair? Technically not.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Next item of business: I don't know if you've heard this (if you live under a rock or something), but Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is running for president. Naturally then, the Mormon religion is under a lot of scrutiny. I was reading this article yesterday, and it was the comment about women that once again, started making my blood boil.

Where did the notion come from that Mormon women are oppressed?!? This, to me, is one of the most ridiculous claims about Mormons. I remember last year, my husband, who was then my fiancee, was delivering wedding announcements to some of his high school teachers. One of his teachers, a woman, saw that we were getting married in Utah and exclaimed, "I hope you aren't marrying a Mormon!"

Victor wasn't in fact a Mormon when he had this teacher, so he informed her, "well, actually, I'm a Mormon now too."

To which she said, "well, I just don't like the way they treat their women."

I wondered how many Mormon women this teacher actually knew. I guarantee probably not more than one or two, because for her to make that kind of claim is completely obscene. There are plenty of statistics that more than prove that Mormon women are successful in all fields of work, they are educated, and they are happy. All you have to do is google "Mormon mommy bloggers" to get an idea. (and just as a side comment, if this teacher didn't like the way that Mormon women are treated, then shouldn't she have been glad that I, the "oppressed Mormon woman," was escaping the chains of my oppression for a guy like Victor???)

As a Mormon woman, I have traveled, I have an education, and I am treated as an equal by my husband. My mother is the same way, and her mother is the same way. My Mormon girlfriends are the same way, as are a lot of their mothers. I realize that there are exceptions, as there are in every culture and religion, but please, do not tell me that I am oppressed. Worry about those women who actually are.

Sure, there have been and are will still be vicious claims about the Mormon religion, but this is one that is simply infuriating to me. And that's why I'm ranting about it now!

Can I get an "amen" from my fellow Mormon women readers?? Amen!