So many things have happened within the past couple of weeks, it's so hard to keep up with it all. From police brutality to the Republican National Convention and "America's Got Talent" judge cuts, to Michelle Obama's appearance on "James Corden's Carpool Karaoke," my mind is swimming. But, what has probably irked me the most (other than the continuous racism within the police force, that's for me to talk about another time), is Melania Trump's partially plagiarized speech she gave during the National Convention. I have read countless articles and watched several videos on this event (thanks to my fave Huffington Post), to the point where I've literally heard every possible excuse and scenario out there. What I want to address in this article is how serious plagiarism actually is and how it should be taken more seriously.

So, what is plagiarism? According to plagiarism.com, "To plagiarize is to steal and pass off the ideas and words of another as one's own or to use another's production without crediting the source...In other words, plagiarism is an act of FRAUD. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward." So there's the definition. It's a wrong act that happens all of the time. In fact, it is so serious, students can be taken through judicial action, kicked out of college, and fined, for plagiarizing just one sentence in a college paper. Professors drill this idea into your head, because we have to quote and cite any and all information that was taken from a source, so this type of thing doesn't happen. It's a pretty big deal, especially to me, a college student. But apparently plagiarism is okay if you're in politics.

Now, let's move on to Melania Trump's speech. There are endless sites and sources to find evidence on how Trump's speech writer stole exact words and phrases from first lady Michelle Obama. It is clearly evident to EVERYONE that the speech was stolen. However, the word BUT comes into play. Here are some examples of some "buts" I've heard about this situation:

1.Yes, the speech sounds like Michelle Obama's speech, BUT it's not word for word. So it can't be plagiarism. My response: Plagiarism doesn't have to be word for word. In order for it to be plagiarism, it has to be copying WORDS or IDEAS WITHOUT GIVING CREDIT. Did Melania give credit to Michelle for using her words and ideas? No.

2. Okay, she may have stolen a few phrases from Michelle, BUT I would've said the same thing just like any other potential first lady. My response: First, why couldn't she have wrote her own words and speech to express her own thoughts instead of copying Michelle's? How do we know that she won't continue to steal ideas because she can't come up with her own? Second, it doesn't matter if it's only a few phrases or the whole speech, IT'S STILL PLAGIARISM.

3. So, Melania spoke what was written, BUT she didn't write it herself. So, it's not her fault. My response: Why didn't she or any other person make sure it wasn't plagiarized? It was so evident that countless people noticed it ONCE SHE GAVE THE SPEECH. Why didn't anyone notice before hand and if they did, why didn't they do anything about it? Also, why didn't she use the speech that her original writers wrote for her? Then this could've been completely avoided.

4.The speech may have been plagiarized, BUT this is just another media based gimmick to take our attention away from the actual election. My response: Yeah, it may be, BUT IT'S STILL PLAGIARISM. Like I said before, it's still fraud.

5. (And my favorite) BUT Hillary had hundreds of confidential emails on her personal server, you're saying that's okay? My response: NOPE. Yes, Hillary did something very very wrong on her part, but that doesn't make plagiarism any more okay! Again, it's still plagiarism! And nowhere in my argument did I say it was okay for Hillary to do what she did. Plagiarism is plagiarism, no matter what else may be going on in the election.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that plagiarism is a really big deal that people are now ignoring or just pushing off. I take it as, now, no matter what level you are in politics, you can get away with anything, including plagiarism. Not once did you hear an apology from Melania, Trump, or the speech writer. For the potential President and first lady, that is ridiculous. If it were me, I wouldn't have hid or denied it all like what they did. I wouldn't have plagiarized in the first place, but I would've at least had a press conference to apologize for the act that was just committed. So, let's all just grow up and accept the fact that the speech was plagiarized and enforce the punishment that should've went along with it.