Randy David is a popular columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He writes, "In our society today, a large number of individuals enter politics not because they have a vocation for it but only because they have an advantage they think they must not waste". He refers to the actors, athletes, television celebrities, scions of political dynasties and old wealth. He writes that one should not run on the basis of electability but rather on whether one has a political vocation. He quotes Max Weber who lists three essential traits: "passion, a feeling of responsibility and a sense of proportion".

Whenever I think of the sacrifices I will have to make in order to discern if I truly have a political vocation I always think of the sacrifices other people have made long before me for the good of the country to assuage my doubts and strengthen my commitment. Others have been imprisoned and tortured, others have lived away from family for many years and others have been killed. We need to continuously measure ourselves next to what these heroes have sacrificed.

Per Olofsson is a Swedish inventor who is marketing a novel innovation, solar-powered airconditioning. A thermochemical reaction between water and salt results in heat exchange. This would be a wonderful improvement for a materially-poor but sun-rich country like the Philippines. The technology is rather expensive but Olofsson's main concern is how to convince populations to exploit sustainable energy sources. "Changing behavior is more difficult than changing technology."

Across the Atlantic, Jim Poss from Massachusetts is an alternative-energy entrepreneur who invented a solar-powered trash compaction system that will make trash pick-ups less often. Apparently, the US spends $45 billion annually to haul garbage away and this converts to 180,000 diesel trucks rolling around the streets every single day.

Two wonderful innovations that will help preserve our environment arising from areas relatively deficient (compared to the Philippines) in sunlight. Why an impoverished nation straddling the equator cannot pursue harnessing solar energy full time presently escapes me. Another reason why I need to be in some position where I can find out the real reasons behind this disconnect.

Everyone agrees that in our stage of the game as a nation, we all need to commit ourselves to revolutionary character building or rebuilding for that matter. We seem to have gotten lost in our comparatively short history. We don't have the Spaniards, Americans, Japanese to blame any longer. We are quietly percolating in desperate straits solely because of our own collective inability to work together as a nation.

Someone or many people will need to spread this message to the Filipino people. We will need to get out of this mess through our hard work and changed lives. It has become almost funny how early on in the election period all these politicians have begun promising plans and divining glorious futures when we know that lasting change will not arise from one more law, one more rule, one more ordinance, one more constitution. Progress will not entail ten more bridges, 1000 miles of roads, 2000 schools and 5000 hospitals. We will need to understand that the changes we seek will probably take generations to achieve. This will take a long time.

I do want to help begin this process. Many times, I have thought about the many sacrifices this commitment needs. William James said that the test of character is not in choosing the path of least resistance but the path of greatest traction. It is because I know life is so short that I want to do so many other things but it is also because of that knowledge that I am determined to try my best to leave this world a better place than how I found it.

I'm back. Haven't posted anything for more than a week because of two important activities. We were informally involved in the medical care of a patient in the intensive care unit and my wife took part in her first golf tournament.

Both activities resulted in favorable outcomes so I am now back in business. The campaign period officially began yesterday and the next few weeks will be interesting because I will be treading upon terra incognita. We will see where this wave will bring me. I just think that going around the country with a message will lead me to meet people. Instead of seeing a hundred patients a day, I may be able to influence public policy that can potentially affect millions of lives.

One of the biggest limitations of a concerned private citizen in the Philippines is the lack of access to government documents. I want to be able to study the country's unvarnished financial books and speak with the many bureaucrats tasked to keep the country going. I need to be able to form conclusions from first-hand, reliable and undoctored data.

A very important component of leadership is problem solving which can only be achieved with careful analysis of true data.

We commemorate today the journey of the three wise men to where the infant Jesus lay. They brought him gifts of frankincense and myrrh. Through a dream, they were advised not to return to Herod and they went back to their respective homes through separate ways. Epiphany is from the greek word for "manifestation". And it is easy to understand why the wise men could no longer simply return to their previous lives after witnessing a manifestation of such profound magnitude.

The call to change ourselves is an ancient one. Through the secularization of the democratic processes, we have become thoroughly wary of mixing religion with politics. In the US, ever conscious of the separation between church and state, school prayer, celebration of religious holidays, symbols such as the ten commandments have become proscribed.

But do these various religions have proprietary rights over truth, justice, preferential assistance to the poor and weak, dignity of labor?