That's Mine!

"Same-same."

When is something ours?

Years ago I combined Sandra's Chocolate Cake with my mom's Texas Sheet Cake, and added a teaspoon of cinnamon—it became my chocolate cake. Candice now makes it more often than I do. She's adjusted a teaspoon here and a degree there to make it unique. It's mine when I make it, but definitely hers when she does.

Dad was known as the optimist. I believed his ideas. Putting them into practice, they were supported by my own experience; now his philosophy has become mine.

A famous scholar, D.W. Winnicott, refused to give credit to others for his theories. He said, "My mind works differently than yours. I gather this and that, here and there, and form my own theories. I never interest myself about where I stole what."

"Is that mine?"

T.S. Eliot said, "A minor poet borrows, a great poet steals." When a writer uses a quote in the context it was written, to support the same idea, it is borrowed. But when writing inspires some new thinking, the words can be used again, and be original again.

"Are you copying me?"

Everybody has known somebody who copies. An outfit, a decorating touch, a unique style—they're all up for grabs. Just stroll through the blogosphere for many examples. But a copy can't stand on it's own for long; originality is what lasts. We can't really steal ideas. Our own unique combination of experience and understanding puts a personal imprint on anything we collect from others. After that happens we can claim, "It's mine."

(That being said, if my cake falls, remember it was Sandra's recipe.)

*Homework:

~Post a favorite recipe you consider your own.

~Write a post using this prompt: "I loved what she said, but my mind went in a whole new direction. I thought . . . "

~Has someone copied one of your ideas? How did you feel? Write about it.