Give credit where credit is due.
Some famous thinker is credited with alluding to this notion. I think he was Roman. That's almost all I can tell you about the source of inspiration. Assumptions tell me that this dude was likely screwed over once. It's possible he was overlooked, so he felt like a depleted minion who was denied something for which he felt entitled. Perhaps he spoke out, and his words echoed in translations of his phrase.
Credit comes in many forms. Now that I've graduated from The University of Alabama, I'm trying to figure out just where I should place it. Now I send thanks to ones who bestowed knowledge. To some, I give postcards. To others, I simply nod to them in my head whenever a piece of their own minds slip from my tongue. If I did not, I'd feel their unsaid detriment that might bring an ill feeling and spur unfriendly reactions.
I encountered many individuals and ebbs and flows of egos while gaining upper-level education. Some who taught me became my friends. Others preferred to flick me a bird, remain behind podiums, or hide behind screens instead of agreeing to any similarity in souls. Those are the ones I will be least likely to remember.
Of course, sometimes disagreeable people are the ones who I cannot forget. I had a roommate who wrote a note that pretty much told me to go kill myself and left it on our refrigerator (her request was almost honored after I had a freak accident and fell down a flight onto my face in February). This same person is also the reason that bright pink Post-It notes shaped like flowers scare the living shit out of me. I credit this old roomie for teaching me the lesson that people have evil phases that can and should be overcome.
I could attempt to name every person who ever contributed to who I am, but the effort would prevent me from coming across new contributors. I will let the entitled create their own acknowledgements. So it goes.*
*Sentence courtesy of Kurt Vonnegut
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