Avoiding Plagiarism

Rather than adapt, paraphrase and attempt to make it my own—I'd rather simply give credit where it's due and share with you a conversation Krista Tippett (host of the twenty-year program On Being) had with writer Kate DiCamillo that perfectly underlines this weekend's gospel and the end of summer. It speaks of perseverance—what it is to be human in difficult circumstances. It is the essence of our human life on earth: waiting, hoping, doubting—and enduring. Enjoy this except and be sure to experience the entire hour-long produced program at onbeing.org. Tippett invites DiCamillo to read a letter she once wrote from a reader:

Dear Matt,

…You asked how honest we, as writers of books for children, should be with our readers, whether it is our job to tell them the truth or preserve their innocence.

Here’s a question for you: Have you ever asked an auditorium full of kids if they know and love Charlotte’s Web? In my experience, almost all of the hands go up. And if you ask them how many of them cried when they read it, most of those hands unabashedly stay aloft.

My childhood best friend read Charlotte’s Web over and over again as a kid. She would read the last page, turn the book over, and begin again. A few years ago, I asked her why.

“What was it that made you read and reread that book?” I asked her. "Did you think that if you read it again, things would turn out differently, better? That Charlotte wouldn’t die?”

“No,” she said. “It wasn’t that. I kept reading it not because I wanted it to turn out differently or thought that it would turn out differently, but because I knew for a fact that it wasn’t going to turn out differently. I knew that a terrible thing was going to happen, and I also knew that it was going to be okay somehow. I thought that I couldn’t bear it, but then when I read it again, it was all so beautiful. And I found out that I could bear it. That was what the story told me. That was what I needed to hear. That I could bear it somehow.”

So that’s the question, I guess, for you and for me and for all of us trying to do this sacred task of telling stories for the young: How do we tell the truth and make that truth bearable?

The hosts leaves us with the last few lines of Charlotte's Web:

These autumn days will shorten and grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and fall. Christmas will come, then the snows of winter. You will live to enjoy the beauty of the frozen world, for you mean a great deal to Zuckerman and he will not harm you, ever. Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wilbur — this lovely world, these precious days…

Thank you for spending your precious days as part of the St. Monica family—where all are welcome and we can all find a home. You are #StillStMonica. We are #StillStMonica.