Something has been bothering me today. A something that has irked me since I was a child. And once again has come u into my life. Parroting, imitation, echoing, and to bring it up to the digital age: pirating. I expect it from strangers, friends, and other non-related entities, but to get it from your family that's just a plain BS. Why? Because there is, or at least should be, a sacred codex of laws that states that you can be open and sharing with them without the judgement, condemnation, and pirating of ideas shared in confidence with one another.

So what's the gripe? Well it's about following YOUR dream that God has given to you. I wish people would do that instead of parroting your dreams and ideas. My mom had the same problem in her life so why do I think mine should be any different. When I was a growing up my mom fostered my creative and entrepreneurial spirit. I could incubate ideas with her, my aunt, and my grandparents. And then they would help me to plan them out logically and implement them. "Make it happen" was the motto I was taught. The other motto that I lived by was, "Be bold, original, and groundbreaking."

So, when I run into someone who wants to do the exact same thing you have been planning for years only after I've told them my plans and dreams it gets a little irksome to say the least. There were things that I set in motion when I was a younger that I told my true family, but sadly much to my own detriment I eventually told others in the wider family circle. BAD idea. Because you get to hear them pitched back to you as if it were their idea.

I know people have had this experience all over the world, and it's said that "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery," but I've never felt that way. It's just a sign of a weak personality. But I'm implementing something my aunt told my mom years ago, and me in the recent past: "Keep your mouth shut, and do it. That way no one can argue with you in saying who did what first. There will be no question."

And after today, that's exactly what I'm going to do. This is the last time this will ever happen I've learned to keep my mouth shut. I'll write my ideas down, and tell my intimate family but nothing beyond a select few. A VERY select few, my personal think tank.

Now that's not to say that people can't have concurrent dreams. History has proven that way of coping out of your own dreams. History has proven that many of the great inventions of our time have been the created concurrently. The telephone, with Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, light capturing emulsion that is what is now know as photography. Simultaneous invention is not new, but here's the catch. They were invented by two different people in two totally different locations. Unknown to each other. Key words unknown to each other.

But that's not to say that inventions have not been created due to one person having the idea and then the other person taking that idea and pawning it off as their own. There's even more of a history of this then the former. In fact I believe that's how humanity operates. But you know humanity has hit rock bottom when the person who takes your idea pitches it to you as if it were their own to begin with. That's how you know something has gone terribly wrong.

So what would drive a person to do this? Why wouldn't a person follow their own dream? Why be a echo of someone else? Why not be you?

I don't know the answer to any of these questions and I doubt if I ever will but, it's not my problem. I can only focus on God and the ideas he's given me. They are my passion and I will see them through no matter how many parrots I encounter. It's only squawking and it can be ignored.