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            After I got burned with those counterfeit cards, my mother said I was lucky. And I was.  I may have wasted my money but I learned that Forest Gump was right, "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get". What I got was a new found interest in learning about why we have to respect the rights of companies and artists so that we can feel safe and sure about what we buy, see and read. We are all consumers and we are all creators who should have rights.  I think kids don't realize that everything they see made by people is the work of somebody.   If we don't want to be victims we have to protect EVERYBODY'S  rights. 
 

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            I started to look around me. Every product had copyright symbols, patent numbers and trademark labels. Every website had a page about their copyrights and other rights to their work. Every book magazine, pamphlet, or flyer I read stated the rights of the artist. Every play and dance I went to, every monument and sculpture, every movie, television show and sports event claimed their copyrights. You couldn't get away from art rights even in a National Park!! If somebody made, drew, or photographed something it was their property. This is called intellectual property. 

            When we do class assignments the text books, encyclopedias, and reference books are copyrighted but may be used in the classroom. But now us kids are making websites for our class, school, community or ourselves. We are now writing articles and stories and drawing pictures for our and other people's websites.  We are not in our classroom but in the public just like any other publisher of a book or a magazine. Art Rights and Wrongs are just as important to us now as if we each owned our own company. We want to respect art rights and other people's property so that we can make a world that is truthful.