THE GENERALIST IS 4 YEARS OLD

'Many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them - if you want to. Just as someday. if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful, reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry' - J.D. Salinger
It was four years ago this month that, with great excitement, I sat down and wrote my first blog post, entitled 'Memory Exercise' [June 1 2005], which included the above quote, and began the long ongoing process of documenting my working life and reporting on issues and ideas of interest.

It has been one of the most exciting periods of my journalistic life, like starting again in a fresh medium full of new possibilities, which I am still uncovering. Thanks to all my readers out there, many of whom have been kind enough to contact me personally with encouraging words. It helps. My output is consistently inconsistent. At the moment I'm on a roll; othertimes, presssure of paying work make it hard to find the time and energy to keep it going. Yet everytime I come back to it again, the excitement returns. Global traffic continues to expand steadily, year on year, and the blog itself becomes a richer resource with every new entry. I'm in this for the long term. Hope you will stay with me on the journey and pass the word about the site to friends and colleagues. 'These are times that try men's souls' as Tom Paine memorably put it. Its also time to make the world anew. Let's do it.