A Good Old-Fashioned Rant

Today, I plan to cover a number of topics that have been on my mind lately. In the interest of full disclosure, I must warn you that I'm overly tired today, and increasingly moody. So this will definitely not be an unbiased rant. But unbiased rants are no fun anyway.

We'll let my disclosure statement lead us in to my first rant. The topic? Pregnancy symptoms when you're not pregnant.

I don't get them every month, but frequently, after ovulation, my body starts acting like it's in the beginning stages of pregnancy. I get sleepy, my nose starts picking up on smells that usually evade my detection, I have to pee every half hour, I cry at dumb things, etc. These are not normal things for me. And they tend to start a full week and a half before my period is due, so I know it isn't related to that. So my question is this: What the heck?!?! It's just not right. I mean, it's gotten to the point where the pregnancy symptoms don't get my hopes up anymore, but it still doesn't sit right with me that they're happening at all. It's just not fair. No one should have to deal with all the inconveniences of pregnancy unless they're actually having a baby! AmIright?

Granted, we don't know yet what my particular fertility problem is. It's possible that, on the months when these symptoms occur, I am in fact getting pregnant. But somewhere between the conception and the point where my period comes due, something isn't happening like it's supposed to and I'm losing the baby. That would mean I've lost about 15 so far. But that's far too agonizing to think about, so I'm not going to. I'm just going to rant.

Let's dwell on something a little less sad for a while. Have you read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan? If you haven't, you should - but only if you have a LOT of free time on your hands, because the series is 12 books long so far, and it still isn't complete. Good books, but loooooooong.

There's this character in the books named Elayne, and I hate her. She's got to be the most annoying fictional character ever created, and I include Jar-Jar Binks in that category. She's a princess, and she acts like one - but not in the kind, sweet, lovable Disney way. No, she's a princess with a capital "B." Yes, that IS what I meant to type. She's ungrateful, spoiled, stubborn, and has a serious sense of entitlement. And yet, we're meant to like her! She's not a villain - she's one of the leading ladies! We're supposed to sympathize with her and feel for her. But every time she's in a section of the book, I roll my eyes and find myself thinking sarcastic thoughts.

She's beautiful, of course. She's talented. She's stronger in "the power" (you have to read the books to understand) than almost anyone alive. She's heir to the throne of her country, and she's in love with the hero of the books. In a word, she's perfect. Annoyingly so. That's bad enough.

But on top of that, Elayne is a brat.

A character named Mat saves her life multiple times. Rather than thank him, she sneers at him that she didn't need his help and would have escaped just fine on her own. Then, as he's trying to protect and help her - and even though he's intelligent and heroic (albeit cheeky and frequently sarcastic) - she treats him like a slow-witted serving boy.

Elayne spends a lot of her time rolling her eyes at the people around her and treating them like idiots, although she fails to recognize when she's being one herself. This is especially noticeable when she and Nynaeve are hiding with a traveling circus. She's quick to assume everything is Nynaeve's fault, and that she, herself, is entirely blameless. She also gives Nynaeve a lot of grief about the risque costume that Nynaeve is forced to wear, although Elayne's is far more revealing.

She puts herself in danger without thinking about the cost to the people around her, who often get hurt trying to protect her. As with Mat, she's rarely grateful for this. Rather, she believes that's how things are supposed to be. It's only right for people to die to protect their ruler.

The most annoying thing about Elayne, though, is when she forces the hero of the story, Rand, to sleep with her. She subsequently gets pregnant (of course), and spends literally ALL HER TIME complaining about how hard and uncomfortable pregnancy is. She also uses this time to blame Rand for all of it, because clearly, even though she forced herself on him, it's entirely his fault. Never mind that her gift with the power prevents morning sickness, and she barely gains any weight, and she wants more than anything to have these babies - she still complains non-stop.

"I have to drink milk instead of wine! Eeew!"

"I had to get brand-new beautiful princess dresses made! Waaah!"

"I'm barely showing, but I feel fat anyway because I'm conceited!"

"I keep having mood swings! Stupid Rand! This is all his fault!"

"I can't use my power, so it's like I'm an ordinary person!!! The horror!"

"People keep trying to protect me and my babies! They're treating me like an invalid, not letting me lead my army into battle and mud-wrestle alligators, just because I'm pregnant! It's not fair! Stupid Rand!"

Oh. My. Gosh. If she was a real person, I would punch her in the face.

Granted, none of the above are direct quotes from the books. But if you've read them, you know how accurate they are. And the problem is that the story is told from the perspective of the character you're reading about. So, when we're learning about what's going on with Elayne, we have to be in her head with her. And in her head, she is literally always thinking about her pregnancy and feeling sorry for herself.

The last book, number 11, was great. Elayne wasn't in it once. I wish they could all be like that.

Moving on!

Inflation is getting bad. Over the past few months, I've noticed prices more than doubling on some foods. Most pricing isn't changing quite that dramatically, but it's all climbing. As things stand at the moment, Ben's raises every year are barely improving our financial situation. And currently, the inflation is growing worse than it ever has been, and at an alarming rate.

I'm sure a lot of this has to do with all the money we're borrowing from China, and the trillions of dollars in spending that Congress is shoving down our throats. American money is becoming increasingly worthless. The problem is that people are still being paid the same amounts, so their salaries are essentially shrinking in value.

My particular beef, which I'm trying to get at, is with the government and their treatment of the military.

We didn't choose to have this spending bill shoved on us. We don't want that debt on our shoulders, and the shoulders of our children and grandchildren. But we haven't really been given any choice. The government made that decision for us.

That same government decides every year how much of a raise to give to the military. They do the raises every year to try and keep the salaries consistent with inflation, among other things. But this year, when inflation is worse than it ever has been before and is growing exponentially, they are giving the military the smallest raise they've had since it became an all-volunteer military in 1973.

Granted, it's gone up to 1.9% from the 1.4% Obama proposed back at the beginning of 2010. But still, that's peanuts. It's an incredibly tiny raise. Last year, we got a 3.4% raise. In 2009, it was 3.9%. 2008 was 3.5%. I could go on and on.

Do you see how insignificant this raise is? And with inflation growing, as I said, it's essentially going to be like taking a pay cut.

My question is, of all the places to cut spending, why cut the salaries of those serving in the military? I admit that I am extremely biased in this issue, because my husband is in the military, but even if that weren't the case I would find this atrocious. Why not cut the salaries of those serving in political offices? Maybe then the corruption would go down, because people would be serving because they want to make a difference, rather than just wanting power and wealth. Why not cut down the huge, life-sucking spending bill (which includes money for frisbee golf courses, among other ridiculous things)? Why not get more politicians to drive where they need to go, or fly on commercial airlines, instead of dishing out huge amounts of money to fuel their private jets?

If anyone deserves to be taken care of by their government, it's the military. Especially because it's an all-volunteer force. These men and women weren't drafted. They decided, of their own free will, to fight for their country. They did it because they believe in the freedoms we have, and are willing to die to protect them. They're willing to die to protect us.

People don't join the military to get rich. Nobody in the military makes a lot of money. Most get full tax refunds every year, because they don't make enough money for the government to take taxes out. The government tries to spin this as being a good thing ("Hey! Look! Tax refunds every year! Join the military!") but I think it's a travesty that they're paid so little. They're willing to pay the ultimate price for this country, but their country isn't willing to pay them very much for their service.

It's so sad. People in the military sacrifice so much. It's not just about whether they live or die, though. Even those that live to be 100 make huge sacrifices. There are children who learn to grow up without having Dad (or Mom) around, because he's off fighting. There are spouses who basically become single parents. There are holidays, anniversaries, and birthdays missed. Many of the men are deployed during the births of their children. They miss seeing their baby take his/her first step, or say his/her first word.

They spend their time with a bunch of other military servicemen, living out of tents, watching for attacks, eating cafeteria food, wearing the same thing every day, frequently missing out on baths and indoor plumbing, trying to kill evil men who want nothing more than to kill them first, and often seeing their comrades die right in front of them. They may come home with missing limbs, or other life-changing injuries. Many of them end up with psychological and emotional injuries, too. War is hell, and nobody knows that better than our servicemen and women. But they do it anyway. They fight, so the rest of us don't have to. They are heroes in every sense of the word.

And the government thanks them for this service by paying them next to nothing.

And too many of the people in this country thank them by throwing eggs at military funerals and shouting to the world that these brave soldiers deserved their deaths (There are not a lot of people who do this, granted, but even one is too many, and there are far more than just one).

And the press thanks them by slandering the good work they're doing, and finding reasons to portray them as bloodthirsty monsters.

The least they should get, the very least, is a decent pay raise every year so that they can provide for their families. But this year, they're not even getting that.

It makes me very sad.

After that emotional rant, I'm not sure that I have anything left in me to say.

Except maybe this...

Today is Veteran's Day, but it's not the only day that you can express your thanks to our brave men and women in the military. My hope is that everyone who reads this blog will remember that. If you see someone in uniform in the grocery store, at a restaurant, on the street, at the airport... take the time to thank them. It means so much to them to know that there are people who are grateful for their sacrifices. We can't do a lot about the press, the crazy anti-war protesters, or the government. But we can show our servicemen and women that their sacrifices aren't going unnoticed. Don't save your gratitude for Veteran's Day. Express it at every opportunity you're given.