"When a thing has been said and well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it." - Anatole France

I saw a lovely quote today.
So I added it to my essay.

It makes sense, really. Why crack your brains to come up with something original when someone else has already said the same thing - and said it best, too?

That essay which I handed in,
Came back an F as red as sin.
I argued, "What's this for?"
He replied, "You copied. No score."

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks that way. Especially universities, who will charge you for plagiarism and slash your grades. Maybe even kick you out of school, too. So why do people still do it?

"I wanted to prove a point," I cried.
"This quote has it all inside!"
"You never referenced," he scolded me.
"So this work isn't even worth a P."

Lack of awareness, that's what they tell me. Students don't know plagiarism is a crime, a crime punishable by failure and/or expulsion. If you ask me, I say it's also due to panic. And worry, and anxiety, and the desire to do well until it completely unhinges your mind. So it's a dangerous world, university. Freedom in some areas, prison in others. You quote in an essay, you gotta be prepared to reference. And even then, there are issues: How to reference? Which format to reference in? How do I know I'm doing it properly?

I stared at my essay, face streaming tears.
Parents' rage and disappointment, my greatest fears.
"It's not fair," I said. "I did my best.
"Why did they make me fail the test?"

I personally despise referencing. It's the bane of any academician's life. They say they want our essays to be original, yet they contradict themselves by saying our originality has to be based on something. Which is completely illogical, because how can something be original if it's based on something? Besides, if your entire essay has to be based on theories or opinions already said, you'll wind up quoting two-thirds, likely three-fourths of it, anyway. So where's there any space left to be original?

"Stupid rules," I shouted out loud.
"They don't do anything to make you proud."
That F, oh boy, ain't such a lark.
Your record now has a permanent mark.

I never plagiarised. My university makes it a point to emphasise the seriousness of plagiarism until it's all that haunts you while you're working on assignments. But the point is, university can be crazy. What is logic may not always be logical. What is sense may turn out nonsense. What you believe is right may wind up being what is wrong. And then it flips again, and we're left suddenly unbalanced. Or it contradicts itself in and again, before twisting back to what it was and throwing us out of the loop once more. Back and forth, up and down, inside and out, we're blended together until we come out all messed up and confused - which is exactly what they want us to be. So now I ask you:

What do they really expect from us?

"The first time I see a jogger smiling, I'll consider it." - Joan Rivers

On the moon, weightless and free.
That's where I want to be.

There's too much emphasis on size and weight and looks today. I don't like it. Do you?

In space, floating high.
That's where I want to be.

Magazines, TV, movies - hell, even the news! What chance do normal people have if all they see around them are stick figures and thin mints?

In a world where it doesn't matter what you weigh.
That's where I want to be.

To be big and beautiful ... All plus-sized people should follow that, it's a good motto. So why isn't anyone placing the same emphasis on it as they do for the skinnies?

To be like Tracy Turnblad and Matron Mama Morton.
That's who I want to be.

You can't even be pretty and fat anymore. If you're not a six, no one notices beyond your neck. So what's the point of having a face like Nicole Kidman or Kiera Knightley if you're three, four times their size?

To be size twelve and beyond, and still be accepted.
That's who I want to be.

Of course, there IS a difference between being huge and healthy, and being huge and UN-healthy. I condone the former, NOT the latter. It's one thing to be plus-sized and brimming with good health; it's another thing altogether to be obese with a body clogged with junk. So why aren't there people teaching us how to be proud of our weight AND stay healthy without forcing us to slim, slim, slim down until there's nothing left?

To be loved for who you are, and not what you look like.
That's who I want to be.

I'm not plus-sized. But I'm definitely on the bigger end of the weight spectrum. Do I wish I was slightly thinner, of course. But am I embarrassed about my size, no way! I enjoy eating, I don't deny that. I'm not a fan of exercising, I don't deny that, either. But I dance, I play badminton, and I take the stairs at university instead of using the elevators all the time. Little things like that to keep healthy, even if they don't really shed off the pounds. So why does society make such a fuss about what I am on the outside when it's HOW I am on the inside that matters?

Such a sad, materialistic world.
Stop it from spinning,
I want to get off.

"Hope is a waking dream." - Aristotle

And then I'll hope.
And I'll hope for the impossible.
I want the impossible.
Those who can't believe in the impossible can't believe.
And those who can't believe, don't live.

I'm stranded on a deserted island, standing alone in the middle of a vast ocean of nothingness. Dare you join me?

Sometimes you have to believe.
Even when there's nothing to believe in.
Belief is life.
What's the point of living if you don't believe?

My life is a street full of potholes. Bumpity bump bump bump. Dare you take that walk with me?

I believe in fairy-tales.
I believe in flying unicorns, fire-breathing dragons and twilight angels.
I believe in cotton-candy clouds, lemonade fountains and ice-cream mountains.
If that makes me childish, so be it.
Better a child than a cynic.

I have no destination. I go wherever my feet take me. Dare you bear that uncertainty?

My reality is my dreams.
My nightmares are reality.
If it's better for me to stay sleeping,
Then I pray you let me sleep forever.

I'm as temperamental and unpredictable as the weather. Dare you brave my storm?

I need my belief.
I need what I dream.
I live in a world of my own.
I live in a world we all want to call home.

I am who I'm not and yet I am. Dare you understand that?

I believe in what can be, what might be.
I don't believe in what is.
I march to a different drummer.
That drummer is me.

What you see, you might not get - and what you get, you might not see. Dare you accept that?