Restart. Reboot. Rethink. Today Is Now.

That title is way too much to live up to in a post, or even a blog. If you expected much, you're in the wrong place. I do think I come to this blog with a different perspective, so I erased the past, and now start fresh. Today is now, as the title says.

I would not advocate erasing the past, however, because memory shows to you where you have been and how you have grown. For myself, I prefer you to see one side of me: the current Stephen Frerichs. Not the Stephen Frerichs of yesterday, but the Stephen Frerichs of now. Removing and building on failures from yourself can and does result in victory. I want to show you this is new. Therefore, I eradicate all links to the past. And leave only today.

After that hefty introduction, I'm not sure where to go with this. Many of you know me. Some of you happened on this page by mistakenly hitting "Next Blog." But you're here. Why does that matter? Purpose is hard to find, and everyone (whether they admit it or not) searches for it. Often in a probing, personal way that we don't like to admit to anyone and everyone else.

Why is this?

Pride leads to and from everything. Pride of thinking we are better than someone else. Pride in our own maintaining of our supposed positions. Fear of losing that position by admitting weakness. Quoting from Corey Taylor: "You've got to break yourself down before you can build something great." How true.

We as born filthy blackened sinners won't admit ourselves. Our names are a sin. We define sin. It is us. We are it. There is no alternative to the beginning. Shadowed beneath brokenness by default: the human race. Where do we go from here? What can we do? Is improvement an option? What does religion hold in all this? Why do we even care?

Perhaps answers lie in us. Buried and forcibly forgotten is our own morality, our own conscience. We "forget" about these things to excuse our own blood. Excuses, excuses. More pride. Inability to come clean. We would rather be seen as liars than as weak. One and the same, I would argue. We all live on the same earth. How is one of us different from another? Race, religion, language, culture... We're all human. We're all scarred. We all know what we need. But will we admit it? No. What waste we are.

weak (wk)

adj. weak·er, weak·est

1. Lacking physical strength, energy, or vigor; feeble.

2. Likely to fail under pressure, stress, or strain; lacking resistance: a weak link in a chain.

3. Lacking firmness of character or strength of will.

4. Lacking the proper strength or amount of ingredients: weak coffee.

5. Lacking the ability to function normally or fully: a weak heart.

6. Lacking aptitude or skill: a weak student; weak in math.

7. Lacking or resulting from a lack of intelligence.

8. Lacking persuasiveness; unconvincing: a weak argument.

9. Lacking authority or the power to govern.

10. Lacking potency or intensity: weak sunlight.