A coward or a thief?

I guess plagiarism is something that we as Indians do not understand or even consider it as a crime, forget crime, even a noteworthy topic. Day in and day out we buy fake books from bookstores knowing fully well they are not giving us the original - they just make photocopies and huge profit. But we still buy them because it is cheaper for us. We do not care about the author who poured his heart and soul into the book and hoped he could make a living off it - only to realize he aint seeing a dime.
We use fake licenses to software. We buy fake dvd's. We just dont care.  This is our society.

We read research works of a lot of people. Sometimes to save ourselves we copy lines here and there and make a paper and submit as our own work. I know people who just copy other people's hardwork and call it their own. Shameless. Is it their fault for not being taught values right and for being born in a society that just does not care?

We cant seem to even write our thoughts and experiences as our own without them being stolen. I was trying to search for my blog titled 'nanagu kannada gothappa' and landed on another person's blog post.
Original post of mine: 
Posted 2007:
http://archana-adreamer.blogspot.com/2007/12/nanagu-kannada-gothappa.html
The post I ended up reading:
Posted 2011:
http://blog.masthmysore.com/2011/12/29/nanagu-kannada-gothappa/

I mean come on - not even a title change? Ctrl+H and Replace Bangalore with Mysore?

Am sure he did not think he was stealing someone's thoughts, experiences or ideas. He just thought it was a funny article and wanted to get some appreciation from his friends.

And then I realized - I did a similar thing. I was all eager and learning about blogging a long time ago. It was a newly acquired fascination inspired by a good friend of mine - Gayathri alias DG.
I used to read her blogs and I liked or admired her work so much that she inspired me to write my own.
There was one of article of hers that I read and loved a lot and I chose to take an idea of hers and make it my own. The outcome i think was:
http://archana-adreamer.blogspot.com/2006/12/get-up-got-work.html

I think DG's article was written in a more hourly pieces - I dont recall and I dont have access to the piece either so you'd be able to compare.(Am not sure if she blocked me because I did this). The only thing i picked from her piece was the 'routine' idea - the rest was all my experiences. And yet, she called me over the phone and asked me if I had written an article based off of hers. I do not recall my response at the straightforward question. My intention was not to have stolen her idea. And yet i dont know if I apologized to her for it back then. I was probably a coward then for fear I might lose a great friendship over a silly detail - as silly as this? Or is it really silly?
DG : I apologize sincerely if you felt I stole a piece of you. It was never my intention. I was just trying to sound as cool as you back then :) However silly and stupid my actions sound to me reading this. I am ashamed. I know you probably have forgotten all about this and this is the last thing on your mind right now.
My purpose of this article is  for telling this out loud to the world - it does not make sense to privately apologize to you when I publicly used your idea. I just wish I could post your link as reference for every one to read as well and appreciate what a good writer you are.

I should thank the Mysore guy for inspiring me to write this post. Afterall, without his article I might have stayed a coward forever. I choose not to be either - a coward or a thief.