First Steps

In my blogging experience--going back to 2004 now that I think about it--I've found that the first post on a new blog can be monumental. Pivotal. It sets the tone for future posts; it moves us in a direction--any direction. Without it, there is no writing. With it, equally empty posts are free to follow.

I'm not sure why I started this blog. Perhaps out of necessity. Perhaps out of a desire to have a path. I've already worked on one blog for a while (yes, that was a shameless advertisement) but that seems to cover just one part of me. Which is fine, of course. Yet I hope that this dedicated effort is more than just a first step.

I hope it's a journey.

And not just a journey for the sake of a destination, but for the sake of something greater. That's where the true power of the Norman Shield lies--in the lifelong search for idealism. Something unattainable, yet so influential in its gravity.

Idealism pulls us away from what we hold most dear, then pushes us uncomfortably close to what we thought we knew. It's this constant tension that forces us to constantly rethink, reorient, readjust. Literally, to do again.

But in this life we don't get a do-over. No mulligans; no practices. Just one time through.

And that's where I believe we will find the true meaning of the White Cross--and our lives. In the imperfection of ourselves and those we call brothers.