Is plagiarism "the highest form of flattery"?

Check out this link and decide for yourself!

http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/army-wives#comment-293258

Author of Blessings In The Mire, Jan Deelstra writes the following:

"On Sunday, June 8th, Lifetime broadcast the 2nd season's 1st episode of Army Wives. I LOVE the show, I admit! I watched with tissues in hand, pop corn and remote beside me. It had been a long dry spell in between the last season and this one!! I was excited, and had cleared space for my uninterrupted viewing of Army Wives. Although I had told my daughter all about this great series, she was exhausted and had fallen asleep in another room. Not to worry! Lifetime broadcast the fresh episode four times, each with increasing amounts of commercials. Luck me!! I was fortunate to watch the first airing, relatively commercial free.

In true dramatic format, the episode had me fighting tears, and being strong as I experienced the loss of the young woman with the promising future. Well done, by the way. The show took some creative turns and really held my attention. Near the end of the episode, the pseudo disc jockey character Pamela (Brigid Brannagh) said, "I read somewhere, to live in hearts you' leave behind is not to die."

WHAT? I rewound the DVR. Yep. That's what she said, "To live in hearts you leave behind is not to die."

I am the author of Blessings In The Mire, a book written following the death of my son. This is a direct quote from my book:

"To live in hearts we've left behind is immortality."

It's printed on tee shirts, on shopping bags, on my email signatures and on the signatures of employees and the CFO, and, oh yes, in the pages of my book, Blessings In The Mire.

I'm not sure what to do with this information, except to present it here on the pages of Lifetime. I am hoping the information gets to the producer, Mark Gordon. I seriously doubt the writers of Lifetime's Army Wives have consciously plagiarized me, or that they would neglect to give credit to the author of the quote had they been aware that it was Jan Deelstra who said it, as an authentic quote coming from a place where only a mother's love could so poignantly express.

Check out the link to my comment at:

http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/army-wives#comment-293258

Finally, my daughter did come in and watch the second and third airing. I had said nothing to her, as I did not want to ruin the surprise ending. She too was aghast. Funny thing, I didn't really understand the full extent of the meaning of aghast until last night when that program aired, and I was so nearly quoted. My mouth really did fall open. I was really speechless. I could not speak until sometime later, long after I had re-wound the show to ensure that I was not dreaming."

Deelstra was not dreaming. The quote is there on the DVR from the June 8th airing of Army Wives. The show is fairly realistic with exceptions of friendships between officers and wives ~that isn't likely to happen. Anyway, my son is soon to be deployed to the middle east for the 3rd time. I watch Army Wives. But I watch for the escape from reality, not as if it were a true story. I'll leave the true stories to the pages of non-fiction books like Blessings InThe Mire. And I hope the author, Deelstra receives credit for the quote.

Check it out. What do you think? Please add comments. Thanks!!