Still reeling from the 32 hour trip back to the Philippines. I try to find a good side to these arduous journeys and one good thing is the total concentration you can devote to reading a book. To give you an idea how long the trip is, I was able to finish reading 2 books. One was "Wealth and Democracy" and the other was a biography on Theodore Roosevelt.

The first book on wealth was an interesting read because it tracked the growing wealth of the US and exposed the problems that existed even during Jefferson's time specifically corruption and politician-opportunists who overlook the principal reason of public service over their selfish, self-enriching schemes.

The tome on TR closely examines his life and extols his heroic and visionary qualities without glossing over his many human foibles. I try to read as many books on American history as I can because it is wise to follow the ascent of a relatively young democracy that continues to strive to make life better for its citizens. It will do so much to defuse racial tensions and minimize petty bickering in the United States if more instruction were devoted to the teaching of how America became such a blessed nation. Richard Stengel wrote: "Being an American is not based on a common ancestry, a common religion, even a common culture--it's based on accepting an uncommon set of ideas. And if we don't understand those ideas, we don't value them; and if we don't value them, we don't protect them."

Jefferson said: "A nation cannot be ignorant and free".

Background: there are more than 30,000 Filipinos living in Lebanon working as domestic helpers, nurses, doctors and missionaries. Everyone is trying to get out of Beirut and so what does our government do to the "heroes" of the nation? Check this headline from a leading newspaper.

Philippines plea: Please allow Filipinos to hitch ride

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT lacked in ships and aircraft, it tried to make up in letters to foreign countries pleading with them to let Filipinos hitch a ride in their evacuation vessels out of war-battered Lebanon.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) sent a barrage of notes verbales to various embassies -- the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Italy -- that were rushing to pull out their citizens from bombed-out Beirut.

“The problem is, we don’t have ships where our nationals can board, unlike the US and French,” DFA spokesperson Gilberto Asuque said. “We have very limited resources.”

To laugh often and much

To win the respect of intelligent people

And the affection of children,

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of fake friends,

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better

Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch….to know even one life has breathed easier

Because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded!

Today was a full day at the clinic. I realize I have lasted so long at this pace because I enjoy seeing patients and I have never considered it a job. Getting paid to do something you love doing is comparable to Tiger Woods (although I make a tiny tiny fraction of what he makes). Imagine being paid millions of dollars to play in a golf course early in the morning?

My wife and I never stopped giving thanks for whatever we had built in Guymon. Luck, hard work, doing good must have contributed to what we had although we became even more aware of the fact that it wasn't because of whatever we did that we became blessed. And ultimately, this became the principal reason why we had to see how we could help even more people.

Man has always searched for meaning. In the middle ages, theology was considered the Queen of the sciences. Seeing our patients live their lives we found out that it was those people who unselfishly rendered service notwithstanding their lifetime earnings who were happiest and most fulfilled at the end of their lives. These were the ones who went willingly. We wanted to think that we learned something from all this and it was that we wanted to focus on what mattered in the end. I don't think it's ever too late, and sure we have our little regrets but it is in not doing anything about it that will doom us to a loss of faith.

I am writing this entry from Guymon. The clinic was going to need coverage and so I flew in. Our world has truly shrunk and we need to think global if we are to continue to progress. I was alerted to a web page maintained by the local radio station. There were some comments directed at me that accused me of essentially abandoning our practice and transferring all our assets back to the Philippines! There was a racial innuendo in one of the posts. Now I want you all to know that I am a big boy and having lived in the US for 17 years has made me accustomed to these occasional uncharitable and baseless claims.

My wife and I have spent more than a combined 20 years in Guymon serving the sick particularly those belonging to minority groups. A lot of our patients identify with us and it does not hurt that we speak Spanish as well. We have been the first and only subspecialists in internal medicine to practice in this town. We have never received any income guarantee, salary, office space, other emoluments from the local hospital. For 10 years, I would be at the clinic at 6:45 am and leave it 12 hours later. I have worked every Saturday and my home telephone number has always been listed in the phone book.

When we thought that our children would benefit from a Christian education, we helped establish a Montessori. For 9 years, I was actively involved with an institution for the mentally disabled. I was in the parish council of the local catholic church for many years. The clinic employs a full time staff of 16. The medical clinic that we built in 2000 and the pharmacy that we added in 2005 remain one of the best looking buildings in town. We have invested in our community, paid our taxes and contributed to it in as many ways that we could. I wonder why these accomplishments still allow others to feel that we aren't "American" enough.

Why I did not become a US citizen with all it's benefits was the subject of a previous post but even this point was interpreted as a disloyal and ungrateful act.

I was even put to task and accused of abandoning our practice by foisting 2 physicians to help cover our patients. There was no mention of the fact that one is a board-certified US medical graduate internist and the other recently completed residency training in family practice. We are not about to squander the practice we painstakingly built all these 10 years.

Consider this my first venting post.