A Hat Tip
Nesting in a large, evergreen landscape just north of Colorado Springs, near the base of one of the southernmost mountains of the Rockies sits the Air Force Academy, a public-funded military university where the honor code is the rule of law. We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. The honor code is taken so very very seriously I once had a military lawyer tell me that if I borrowed a pencil from my roommate’s desk and forgot to return it, I would be breaking the honor code. If the cadet didn’t report me, technically, so would they.
As you can imagine, when it comes to academic pursuits, plagiarism is nearly punishable by death. At the end of every assignment, I was required to write the word “Documentation,” followed by every person I spoke to, text I consulted, or website I visited that may have directly or indirectly informed my final product. The strict policy for documentation was often misused by authority figures at the time, but I learned a bit from it anyway. I later discovered that acknowledging my sources from a place of respect, not fear, is incredibly freeing. That little metaphorical nod settles like a whispered “thank you” to those whose work fuels me. With it, I say “I don’t know everything, but I like to learn. You can learn more too, start here” or “Somebody’s already said this better.”
Why do we ever withhold that information? Like most things, its likely for convenience or to boost our self-esteem. If so, I don’t think it’s worth the efficiency or the temporary high. It rarely pays to pretend. People may commend us, but we know the truth about how we measure up, and maybe that nagging reality is what makes us feel like imposters in the end—our internal world doesn’t match the one we’ve constructed. We walk around presenting our Frankenstein selves to the world wondering why we don’t feel proud. I don’t want to pretend I got here alone. I don’t want my ego to withhold further growth from those who are willing to dig deeper. Whenever you can, document your sources, for everyone’s sake.