The fact that Mel Robbins straight-up stole Cassie Phillips’ poem “Let Them” and turned it into millions of dollars and tons of internet points™ bothers me more than it probably should

The fact that Mel Robbins straight-up stole Cassie Phillips’ poem “Let Them” and turned it into millions of dollars and tons of internet points™ bothers me more than it probably should.

I like the idea. It helped me. But it wasn’t hers. And that matters.

There’s something sacred about an original idea. The line. The voice. The spark. The moment someone puts into words what the rest of us only feel.

The idea is the real magic. And no amount of polish or platform should be able to bury that.

Communication is my livelihood. Writing. Explaining. Capturing what people think and feel when they’re not sure how to say it.

And I’ve seen how easy it is to build something slick using a Canva template, an AI prompt, or someone else’s words.

It’s not “wrong,” necessarily. It’s just missing something. There’s no soul in it.

And maybe that’s the real warning sign. Sure, it’s straight-up plagiarism. But the real thing that bothers me is the growing comfort we all have with content that may look good (if we’re lucky) but means nothing. Stuff that sounds smart but wasn’t actually felt.

Wherever this industry goes, whatever tools we use next, and heck, wherever our culture is headed… we’ve got to protect the idea.

Because the idea is still the soul of creativity and communication. And if we let them lose the soul, we’re just left with more noise in a nicer font.