Plagiarism

In class we got into a little discussion on what plagiarism really means. According to a definition I found online, plagiarism is taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own. From what we've learned in this class, everything is a re-telling so is it really not possible to take someone else's ideas? I don't think so. However, I think that the definition of plagiarism is getting at the point that you shouldn't intentionally copy or steal someone's ideas. If you just copy and paste someone's words, then you are plagiarising. However, if you truly try and use your own words and own interpretations and thoughts, then it is not plagiarism. But it's still interesting to think about how everything could be considered plagiarism if you looked at it a certain way. All of our thoughts someone else before us has likely thought before. Even if we think we're the only person in the world who has thought of something, we're probably wrong. But that's a little dismal. It's great to think that we are completely unique and we actually really are. No one else on the planet has lived our lives exactly. They may have had some of the same thoughts as us, but no one has lived our lives quite the way that we have.