This blog is a long time coming, and although this post is but the first step in what I hope will be a great journey, its publication is a personal breakthrough I’ve only dared whisper about until now. To my wife. To a dear friend. To the passing acquaintance I’m in no danger of disappointing.

Today I follow through.

Today I commit, out loud, to share myself more freely; to honor my gifts and lift the shroud of self-conscious shame beneath which I have too often hidden them – my curiosity, my playfulness, my tenacity and tenderness. My pride and fear. My hopes. My love. Until now, I have viewed these gifts as mine.

But they are ours.

So now I share my gifts in pursuit of what Ralph Waldo Emerson called “the reward of a thing well done.” This is to say that, while I’d like this blog to synthesize my many interests and evolving beliefs, I am prepared to claim success each time I click “Publish.”

I hope the information I share will benefit my reader and shed light on common misconceptions that paralyze us in the pursuit of even our most modest goals. The ultimate honor for me, however, will be engagement by you, my reader. And I humbly request your encouragement and support.

My challenge to and wish for my reader cannot be stated any better than was done by the indomitable Christopher Hitchens. About a year before his death, Hitch urged an audience of young students and their teachers to do one thing above all else.

“Take the risk of thinking for yourself,” he said. “Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.”

Today I commit to serve you, fellow writers, readers and seekers of truth, by attempting to shine whatever light I can on the happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom I see in the world. Now, I follow through.