This may be viewed as a bit of a vent . . . and it probably is, but it is also a reaction to commonplace emotions and happenings in everyday life!

Recently I had a fellow work at home mom contact me to tell me that a wahm had stolen and was using my brand new design from AllMomShops. I was shocked and felt betrayed and violated, especially considering that this is one of the designs that I sell at Sweet ‘n Simple Design!

This type of situation can be devastating (even if only emotionally) for a designer and the betrayal of another work at home mom makes it even worse. Then I couldn’t understand why another WAHM group I’m part of wouldn’t post my queries and concerns . . . only to find out that she’s another regular there and they like her.

The evidence and my copyright is all right there for the world to see when they look at the html source of her advertising page. I did not come up with this on my own, other women let ME know about it since it was my website that had been stolen (theirs had in the past).

So there you have the crime, but the funny thing is that even though I heard about it on Friday night and initially was outraged and horrified I was pretty much over it the next day. I even had to ask myself why (yes, occasionally I have brief discussions with myself).

You’ve been betrayed and your hard work stolen . . . yes, but that isn’t everything to me! In the bigger scheme of things it isn’t worth my time to struggle unendingly over a situation like this. I have had difficulty for years with upset stomach, usually brought on by stress. How much do I want to mess up my internal functioning for another woman who is obviously unable to see how she is hurting others?

Frankly, I’m just sad! Sad that I had to have waste even a moment stressed out about this woman and her lack of ethics, sad that she is a thief and a fraud, and sad that I don’t know for sure that the situation is over.

She took her website down for the weekend right after I was contacted about the situation and I can only hope that she will not be using another stolen design after this. I am sure that some of the other wahms who are outraged by her actions have contacted her to share their thoughts and opinions on the matter.

At the end of the day she can’t feel very good about her actions, and if she does . . . well, there’s not really anything I can do about it except to pray. Pray that I know the right things to do, that I have peace about the situation and that I know the words to say if I am led to contact her.

I have a lot of sons and maybe it is because I have had to learn to deal with a lot of stresses and “unable to undo” situations, but I have learned not to get so caught up in the everyday happenings. Forgive where forgiveness is needed, help where help is needed, survive when it is all you can do to get through the day, but most of all to try to maintain peace and happiness throughout life’s sorrows and challenges!

So there you have a little rant, vent and rambling from me!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 at 8:34 pm and is filed under Life As A Mom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. If this post blessed, encouraged or inspired you, please feel free to "Stumble It" or submit it to kirtsy - Thank you! You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.