Tipping the cap.

Over time, I've developed the same healthy respect for a well-honed sentence as I do a loaded gun. Ideas articulated with precision are equally dangerous. Expressing yourself in writing is perilous business. While it's not likely to get you killed, you are putting yourself at risk.

For me, good writing is about exposing personal vulnerabilities. Willingly offering that kind of insight takes guts. I don't get stage fright, but the prospect of anyone reading anything with my name on it is terrifying.

This is why I have the utmost respect for anyone who writes from this place of vulnerability and does it well. Someone doing that right now is a former classmate of mine, Mike. You can and should read his blog here, where he recounts his struggle during the war in Afghanistan and on the home front. 

Mike's story is of courage, and the telling of the story is itself a courageous act. We should all read it closely.