We had a minor plagiarism problem at the school this week. A group of students, working on a shared project, used some source material from Wikipedia and did not cite their source. All the students are really good kids and should have known better. As I am writing this essay on plagiarism, several of the students are writing their own essays on the same topic, with no help from the internet. These things happen and teachers and priests are here to transform devastating experiences into teachable moments. My guess is that none of the kids who are writing essays will ever again transgress against the rules for citing sources.
This reminds me about a lawsuit around the popular song, “Blurred Lines,” by Robin Thicke, et al. A jury recently ruled that the song breached copyright of Marvin Gaye’s hit, “Got to Give it Up.” The plagiaristic use of the song netted a payout of $7.4 million dollars and a tremendous amount of negative flack against the artist and his song. In graduate school, we were warned at the beginning of our first year about giving credit to authors. That was it, a simple reminder. The punishment, however, was anything but simple. It could go so far as expulsion from the seminary which would, at the very least, slow down the ordination process. Many lessons are best learned young. Tuesday of this past week is Stations of the Cross day for our Middle School. Now in our second year, we show a slide presentation of each station while three students take turns reading from a script. I plagiarized the entire thing. I didn’t write the script, I didn’t create the images of each station, and I did not create the music that was played as an introduction. I especially did not come up with the concept of Stations of the Cross. But, I did not take credit for creating it, either. The first mention of the Stations of the Cross came about from journals written by travelers who happened to be in Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. Journal accounts show Pilgrims of The Way (a pre-Christianity name) following Jesus’ path from his trial to crucifixion. There were stations along the way where the pilgrims would stop and remember a particular action that occurred there – like Jesus falling, talking to the women, seeing his mother, and Simon carrying his cross. Some stations are found in the New Testament, others are not. They exist because of tradition and, well, plagiarism. The Stations are not the intellectual property of the Pilgrims of The Way. It’s an open source. We’re free to use it and not give credit to the original author. Additionally, the writers of the New Testament do not get caught up with plagiarism. They wrote what they saw and experienced with an open source hope – that others would hear the stories, copy them, and share them. Likewise, your own faith story should be open source. You should share your story with the hope that others will hear it and be inspired to write their own story. I write Reflections and sermons with the hope that they will become an open source of inspiration. I want others to borrow from them if that brings them closer to God. We have an open source faith and tradition. It’s vitally important to stick to our rules around plagiarism; authors and artists deserve credit and compensation. But it’s also paramount that we openly share our faith and give credit to God. -Fr. Marshall There’s nothing like a good Christian camp song. Standing outside with muddy feet and lots of smiles the children raise their voices in song and praise of God; camp songs are the best. One of my recent favorites is “God is Big” by Frank Hernandez (Birdwing Music). The chorus is simple and goes like this:
“God is big, God is big, God is very very very very very very Big.” The two verses are as follows: “God is bigger than a lion, stretched out from head to tail; He's bigger than an elephant who's on his tippy toes; He's bigger than the biggest whales who swim in the biggest seas; In fact compared to God, they're ever tinier than fleas. God is bigger than a mountain that seems to touch the sky; He's bigger than the brightest stars that twinkle every night; Now think about a hundred billion planets if you will; The God who made the universe is even bigger still.” At our camp, participants can see “mountains that touch the sky” and at night can look up to see a “hundred billion planets.” I have found camp to be a great place for one to explore the size and depth of God in creation in collaboration with others; the importance of camp as a group experience cannot be overstated. A question I ponder is how one can bring the camp experience home. The Saint John’s Chapel program for preschool through second grade is learning “God is Big” and maybe some other camp songs. We’re hoping we can move the camp experience to school. I have a particular reason why I’d like to move it from camp to school. I think our media outlets portray a small image of God. We see radical groups that claim God to be so small that things outside their narrow theological view are met with violence. At the far end of the spectrum, secular humanism is diminishing, or even dismissing, the sense of any Creator at all. I’d say that God is bigger than both radical Islam and secular humanism. I’d even say that God is bigger than the debate of whether female acolytes can be allowed to serve at the altar, whether lay people can preside at holy communion, and that God is bigger than the anger currently being thrown at the Presbyterian Church. In seminary, we looked at an interesting question: Can the creation be bigger than the creator? Is Grapes of Wrath bigger than John Steinbeck? Is “Water Lilies” bigger than Claude Monet? Is Symphony No. 5 bigger than Beethoven? Although I believe the internet is bigger than Al Gore, my answer to the question is no. The creation is not bigger than the creator. For as great as Grapes of Wrath is, Steinbeck is bigger, more complex, than his novel. Likewise, Monet is bigger than his collection of paintings because the paintings did not paint themselves. Likewise, when it comes to God, we concluded that God is bigger than God’s creation. Bigger than an elephant on its tippy toes or the furthest away particle in the universe, God is big. Very very very very very very big. -Fr. Marshall A recent study that I read shows a direct correlation between one’s perceived social status and one’s willingness to help others. The study by Ana Guinote, et al, (National Academy of Sciences, “Social Status Modulates Prosocial Behavior and Egalitarianism in Preschool Children and Adults”) finds that students who were told they were of a high status were less likely to help others. And, likewise, students who were told they were of below average status showed a higher incidence of caring for others in need. In one example, college students were told their department was the best in the university; a different group was informed it was one of the worst. At the end of the session, the experimenter “accidentally” spilled a box of pens on the floor. Observers of the experiment recorded that the students in the “worst” group picked up more pens than those in the “elite” group. Another experiment manipulated similar groupings of students (the best and the worst). Both groups were asked to write down their life goals. The “worst” group listed more altruistic goals than the “best” group. In yet another experiment, two groups of students were told they did the best or the worst on an arbitrary test. They then were asked to talk with a group of incoming students about how to pick a good roommate. The “worst” students smiled more and acted more warmly and empathetically. The “best” students were more focused on displaying their own competence and knowledge.
This study reminded me of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told a story about a man who had been beaten and robbed and left for dead on the side of the road. Later on, a Temple priest walked by the injured man but did not help. Likewise, a Pharisee walked by but didn’t help. A third man, a Samaritan, walked by, saw the man and made an extraordinary effort to help him. In Biblical times, the Temple priest and the Pharisee probably self-categorized as the “best” and the Samaritan would have thought of himself as of a much lower status in society. Isn’t it interesting that a behavior study published in late 2014 identifies behavior described by Jesus two thousand years earlier. Along the same lines, letters written by Saint Paul use the word “elect” to describe believers of Christ. Yet, when he uses that word, he also reminds believers that they are dependent upon God’s grace and that we should serve one another. It’s as if Paul understood the human tendency to become pharisaical and walk past people in need. Perhaps this is why Jesus washed the feet of his disciples during his last meal before crucifixion. This group was certainly Jesus’ elect but they were chosen to serve. His humility was meant as an important lesson to them. How big a stumbling block it is for the confident believer to live into God’s love and then forget about others because of a heightened sense of self importance. Perhaps that is why Jesus commanded us to love God AND love our neighbor. In that command, there is nothing about high or low social status or our perception of the same. Perhaps that is why Jesus ends the Samaritan parable with the command, “Go and do likewise.” -Fr. Marshall |