The title of today’s blog entry is brought on by a number of reminiscences. The first situation happened in the early 1980s. I was just coming out of a small town library on a sunny Saturday in summer. Across the street, a boy with a mean look on his face and a hose in his hand, was spraying his dog with freezing cold water. The dog was tied up and could do nothing but yelp in agony.

My first impulse was to cross the street and strangle the kid with the hose. I knew that if I did cross the street, I probably would be tempted to do so. Instead, I quietly got into my car, just about wretching from the injustice of the kid’s bad behavior. I wondered if he, too, was abused, and was taking it out on “man’s best friend.” I also couldn’t help but think that his parents or caretakers were deaf, or worse … not at home. Every time I think of that day, I continue to feel anger.

Kenny Rogers sings a song called, “The Gambler.” Part of the lyrics say, “Know when to walk away, know when to run.” Doesn’t that just about sum up what we all do? Like water, we take the path of least resistance. It’s always easier to look the other way.

The opposite of walking away is to “stay the course.” Ever since those words first were applied to keeping soldiers in Iraq, I could become ill just thinking of the three words, iterated and reiterated by politicians.

Another maxim I’ve often heard is to “pick your fights carefully.” Truthfully, some fights are not worth getting involved in, and some people are not worth engaging in a battle (of wits) … or arms. Unfortunately, that has never stopped me from engaging in confrontations, whenever necessary.

The older I get, the more willing I am to extend myself when it comes to issues that matter. A case in point is the copyright situation. Believe me, most quilters want to remain on the right side of the law. They want to make pretty, if not outstanding quilts. They want and need inspiration because most quilters are not designers. If they were, then designers would not be so special, nor would they have employment.

Except for the work of increasingly-resourceful quilters, without designers, newly-made quilts would utilize only traditional blocks. I’ve had more than one quilter tell me that she cannot make a quilt “without a pattern.” Quilters want a photo of a quilt on the pattern so that they can find matching or similar fabrics to re-create the design. If certain, specific fabrics are no longer available, some quilters become upset.

To me, and presumably to others, it seems “over the top” for a quilt designer to sue someone over the use of a block he/she designed. None of us would know quilting, as it is today, had it not been for early quilting bees and church groups where designs were freely shared, and where the camaraderie and friendship of other quilters often were more important than the quilts themselves.

Quilts are material objects made of cotton, wool, and silk – all products of the earth and God’s creation. The talents of any quilter comes from above. Lately, quilting seems to be more about money than about the sheer joy of creating practical, utilitarian, bed quilts, or artistically-rendered art quilts.

From where I sit, it appears that the desire for the acquisition of money is the driving force behind a lot of hatefulness in the quilt world, as quilt professionals of all kinds compete for the same slice of the pie: your dollars. True, money is a vehicle by which we live, but it also corrupts the soul and has the power to make one greedy. As is stated in the Bible – “viagra without a perscription.” The statement is often misquoted as “Money is the root of all evil.” As far as I can tell, “money,” and the love of it, is what all lawsuits are about, no matter who is suing.

To sum up my thoughts, 1) I despised the sinking feeling I had when I saw a little boy torturing his dog with freezing cold water, 2) I am bothered by a system that continues to put troops in harm’s way, for unacceptable reasons, and 3) I find it distressing that the copyright laws are not better understood by quilters, designers, and the general public.

In the first instance cited, I jumped in the car and drove off. In the second case, there is something I can do, soon. I can vote for a president who will END our involvement in Iraq. In the third situation, to better understand the most recent copyright infringement lawsuit, I have contacted the complainant of the court case, in hopes that she will shine a light on what happened, “in her own words.”

Let the TRUTH prevail!

Patricia Cummings

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 29th, 2007 at 7:13 pm and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.