The Highest Form of Flattery

By Sean McVeigh

A few weeks ago, I wrote a column arguing that there are no new ideas. The short version: I believe everything under the sun has already been thought, said, and written — even if you’re not yet aware of it. This causes some problems when people stumble upon a 500-year-old idea — one that’s been repeatedly disproven — and think they’ve discovered the key to saving the world.

That piece stirred up a little pushback. A letter here, an argumentative family member there — not everyone loved what I had to say.

But I think some people may have misunderstood the heart of the column. It wasn’t meant to be a complete downer, though that seems to be how a few folks took it.

Yes, I was highlighting the downside of unoriginal thinking. But, as Newton taught us, for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Good ideas can be copied, repeated, and imitated, too.

Take this column, for example …

Last week, Kevin Boyle, Publisher Emeritus of The Rockaway Times (such a great title, it’s worth repeating every time), got a call from a local fan praising his take on Rockaway’s overhead wire problem. And why wouldn’t he? It was a good column!

The only problem? Kevin Boyle didn’t write it. In fact, he hasn’t been writing for The Rockaway Times in over two years.

But I can’t blame the caller for the confusion. Honestly, I’m grateful. I just hope Boyle was flattered.

Before taking over for Boyle, I had never written columns. So when I stepped into his shoes, I tried to … well, write like Boyle.

My goal was to fake it until I made it. I haven’t “made it” yet, so it’s safe to say I’m still faking it. Reinventing the newspaper column wasn’t the goal — instead, I imitated. Not the exact content (that would be plagiarism), but the style. And that goes for everyone I read — if I see a style I like, I borrow it. I file it away for later.

Think about all the good jokes you know. Did you come up with them? Of course not. But that doesn’t make them any less funny. What about your favorite recipes? Surely you don’t think you were the first person to realize melted cheese makes everything better. You weren’t. Imitation is the highest form of flattery — because if something weren’t good, no one would want to repeat it.

Even the greats knew this. American author William Faulkner once said, “Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it.”

Imitation might feel like faking it, but it’s really how we learn — how we practice being the kind of people we want to become, in whatever part of life we’re in.

No, there may not be any new ideas under the sun. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a ridiculous number of good ones out there — ones worth repeating, refining, and making our own.

So, if you ever think something I wrote sounds a little like Kevin Boyle … good! Now if I could just figure out how to get people to confuse my cooking for my mom’s, I’d really be onto something.