Create, Don't Duplicate

**This is not a funny post. I repeat, this is not a funny post. In fact more than likely it will be awkward for you. But awkward is my speciality.

I don't really know how to go about this because it is not an easy thing to say, so I'm just going to say it. I found the blog of an old friend who I am not acquainted with any longer. This was all good and fine until I started noticing that her words sounded suspiciously like mine. So I started reading through post after post and I was mortified by the blatant copying that this person had done. These were my thoughts that I was reading, my words. I told Bryan about it and he suggested that I do very hateful things to this person. But instead I turned the other cheek and tried to forget about it. Also, we don't own any artillery and this person lives too far away.

So I tried to let this go, passing it off as something small. But it just kept haunting me. Look I know that the Internet is a melting pot of thoughts, ideas and words for anyone to take. There are no internet police hanging around waiting for someone to plagerize. I realize that once I put something out there, into the dark abyss of the unknown, it can be offensive, misunderstood, misconstrued or worse -- stolen. But I take that chance because I like to write and because I like to blog. I do not put it out there for someone to take on as their own. I do not write so that someone else can be esteemed, so that someone else can feel funny or witty. I write because that is what I love to do. I share it because I hope that someone out there likes to read it as much as I like to write. And although internet police do not exist, I would hope that integrity and honesty still do.

As an aspiring writer who hopes to one day find an audience who enjoys reading her works, this is a complete punch in the face. There are reasons for copyrights and patents and trademarks. There are reasons for protecting intellectual property. There is a reason that teachers and professors try teach you to think on your own and not to plagiarize. This is why. It's because of people who can't, steal. I appreciate that you find my words appealing to you, but please find your own voice. Everyone has a unique point of view, everyone has something that they need to say -- so say it. Be your own person.

All of this to say that I do not think that I am the best thing since sliced bread and that this is probably an isolated case. But I just wanted to say to the person who has hurt me by stealing something so very precious to me to please stop. I encourage you to find your own thoughts and words. If you can't think of your own words to write, please don't steal mine. In the end I'm a writer, not a fighter. But plagerism is the death of creativity and is not appreciated.

Always create, never duplicate.