I belong to an online forum that is mainly about women's issues. Mostly, the discussions tend towards birth control, equal pay, voting, etc. Sometimes, however, a great discussion/debate will be totally derailed when someone or another annouces that they've become engaged, and everyone stops to get gooey over the diamond.

Why? What gives? Yes they are rare and sparkley and super hard....so what? Has DeBeers got everybody brainwashed? All right, I suppose they've been the rival of gold on the greed-o-meter since always. Both relationships and empires has risen and fallen over the sparkley rocks.

I will admit, they are pretty to look at, but I certainly couldn't tell a diamond from a cubic zirconia from a nice rhinestone in a realistic setting. When I see the rings over which people are oohing and aahing, I think, "My goodness, I bet that would snag my sweaters." (Not to mention that whole a-damn-lot-of-money-sitting-on-a-tiny-little-finger-just-waiting-to-be-lost-or-stolen factor.)

Am I weird to think that something like a garnet is prettier and nicer than a diamond? Maybe. Am I being pissy because yet another debate on female political candidates devolved into a series of rhapsodies on the merits of the small blue box? Damn right I am.

Ok, time to stop before the people with April birthdays get offended.

(On that vein, I'm not the biggest fan of purple, and yet I get it for my stone and flower. I envy my sister her May birthday, which gets both emerald *and* Lily-of-the-valley. January has a nice combo, too. However, given that I could have wound up with opal and pot marigolds or turquoise and paperwhites, I'll stay happy with what I've got.)

Past my bedtime and I'm rambling................