Saint Lawrence was a deacon in Rome. The persecutors of the Church demanded that he hand over the Church’s treasures. In order to obtain a real treasure in heaven, he suffered torments, the account of which you can only listen to with horror: he was laid on a grill over a fire. However, he triumphed over all the physical suffering by means of extraordinary strength, which he drew from his charity and his faith.

This made the persecutors angry… Lawrence said: “Send some chariots with me with which I can bring you the Church’s treasures.” They gave him chariots. He filled them with poor people and sent them back saying: “Here are the Church’s treasures.” (from The Daily Gospel)

The practice of appointing deacons started when the original apostles were overwhelmed with the tremendous amount of work. Even at that time, it was a revolutionary idea to see any value in the poor. Poverty remains a relative idea. While material poverty in the US is a far cry from the poverty 2000 years ago, material poverty in the Philippines continues to approach levels from a long time ago. Regardless, we will always have the poor and serving them is an opportunity to edify our lives.

Many of our public servants today become disillusioned because they expect their constituents to remember their good deeds and past services. You don't go into this business seeking this form of reward because voters participate in elections mainly because of what's in it for them. Reminds me of the incredible story about an elephant's memory:

A young man was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from college. While he was walking through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed so the man approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot. There was a large thorn deeply embedded in the bottom of the foot.

As carefully and as gently as he could he worked the thorn out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man and with a rather stern look on its face, stared at him. For a good ten minutes the man stood frozen -- thinking of nothing else but being trampled.

Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away.

The man never forgot that elephant or the events of that day. Twenty years later the man was walking through the zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to where they are standing at the rail. The large bull elephant stared at him and lifted it's front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times, all the while staring at the man. The man couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

After a while it trumpeted loudly; then it continued to stare at him.

The man summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

Suddenly the elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk round one of the man's legs and swung him wildly back and forth along the railing, killing him.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

With all the talk about brain drain and the mass migration of Filipino doctors I wonder why I am being given the run-around in my quest to renew my license to practice medicine in the Philippines. Now I am being asked to prove that I am not a dual citizen. I don't mean to sound arrogant here considering my most previous post was about that subject but this is one moment when I'm asking for a small break. I did pass the physician licensure exam 17 years ago and all I did was train abroad so why place an extra obstacle now that I am ready to practice medicine in my own country? Who is making these unreasonable rules?

This is one important difference with the US system. Licensure is purely based on merit and capacity. It has nothing to do with citizenship which in this global world is a concept that is fast becoming obsolete. Nations must strive to attract the most competent and citizenship has absolutely nothing to do with this.

When Representative Rolex Suplico was in the Ginza district of Tokyo recently, he purchased two Rolex watches at a 30 percent discount for his daughter and his son; the discounted cost of the two watches was $6000. “For the price of one, it was as if I was buying two,” Suplico happily told Congress reporters.

His happiness was short-lived because his credit card was declined on the suspicion that it was stolen. Congressman Suplico was indignant and had to ask a fellow congressman to spot him the amount.

“I was humiliated being told I was a criminal using a stolen card,” he said not realizing or pretending not to know that this happens frequently in order to protect consumers. Back in his hometown he grew even more livid when he found out that the matter was not being considered a big deal. “A bank vice president or higher officer should have talked to me,” he said. Reminds me of how a Philippine Senator urged our Department of Foreign Affairs to file a diplomatic protest to the US because he was made to take his shoes off at the airport.

When did these "public servants" start behaving as though they were way above the throng? I guess it must become policy to ask these "servants" to step down whenever they begin acting in this manner because it is a clear reflection of how far these officials have strayed from their stated missions.

You want to be a mountain-dweller,
No need to trek to India to find one.
I’ve a thousand peaks
To pick from right here on the lake.
Fragrant grasses and white clouds
Hold me here.
What holds you there,
World-dweller?

- Chiao Jan (730-799)