Piracy & the Christmas Spirit

Today we discuss the Christmas Spirit, notably the spirit of giving, of fairness, respect, responsibility and honesty.  How many of us are involved in a creative process in some way?  All of us, if we give it some thought.  You could be an artist creating works to an office worker who comes up with a new way of doing things.  Many people spend a lot, if not all of their lives creatively and productively and derive their income from it also.  So how do we feel when somebody steals that thing we created, or passes it off as their own, or sells it to someone else and we receive nothing?  I would suggest that at least 75% of the onsite visits I do people are using music downloading software like Limewire, Frostwire and other bitTorrent related programs to illegally download music and movies.  It has become so a part of what we ( and especially our kids) do that many of us don’t even consider that not only is it illegal, but the people who create this art are receiving nothing for it.  Could we be in the same room with them, look them in the eye and justify what we and our children are doing with their art?  Are we being fair, loving, honest, responsible – all the values we all aspire to and want to instil in our kids?  It might be time to re-assess what we are teaching.  Music is cheap now, under $2 a song and under $16 an album in stores like iTunes.  My New Years resolution is to buy all the music, software and movies I want to own – how about you?