I decided to run for office because the people who were running our affairs over several decades were not doing a good job of it. We were living through a shameful and incongruous situation where we were known to be a country with huge resources, but where the overwhelming majority of the people lived in abject poverty... It weighed on my heart that the students I was teaching could not enjoy the same standard of education I had.

I had to make a decision whether or not to run.

I decided to run because I wanted to show that the path to a life full of enlightenment is not too long .... To show that it is possible to live a moral life, even during this immoral era .... To declare that lawlessness leads to dictatorship; to remind everyone that respect for human rights does not weaken the system, but strengthens it. I decided to run to declare that people expect honesty and truthfulness of their servants in government, and that many of our problems have been created by their lies. I decided to run to declare that backwardness, poverty, corruption, and injustice are not our fate.

I didn't know whether to duck or to run, so I ran.

I don't even know what I was running for — I guess I just felt like it.

Why I ran at all or with what purpose in mind is beyond my answering, but when I had no specific destination I always ran as fast as I could in the hope of finding one--and I always found one.

All my close friends ask me ‘Why are you doing this [running for office]?’. And I always tell myself: ‘If not me, then who?’ I asked this question to myself in 1992, 1997 and I'm asking myself the same question now, today. It feels like it's my destiny to fix what others broke.

Of course, I faced opposition. The first time I ran (for the office), I lost by a few votes because I ran against a man. During the campaign, because I had to go round the faculties and talk to individuals, people asked me who would look after my home if I became the DVC and were in top management.

From the beginning it wasn’t something I had my eyes on but as I built my academic career, as I developed my administrative competencies, and with the inputs and support of others I worked with, at some point I convinced myself that when the position is vacant I will give it a shot.

The idea was ‘we’ll run this campaign and we’ll see what happens’. It’s only been recently that the idea that this is actually a long-term thing has become real.

Probably the most interesting, challenging and unlikely race I ran was for insurance commissioner," Sebelius said. "The most terrifying thing was that I won and had to figure out what to do.

In the beginning, I had thought I might try acting for a while and see if it fit. As the work I was offered became more interesting it became my life. The challenge of doing it well at an ever-higher level appealed to me more than anything else.

I heard all sorts of things-some people claimed that my running for office was an affront to God. Others said having a female run our tribe would make the Cherokees the laughing stock of the tribal world. I heard it all. Every time I was given yet another silly reason why I should not help run our government, I was certain that I had made the correct decision. The reaction to my candidacy stunned me. It was a very low time in my life, but I would not be swayed. I figured the best tactic was to ignore my opponents. I remembered a saying I had once read on the back of a tea box. It said something like this-if you argue with a fool, someone passing by will not be able to tell who is the fool and who is not. I did not wish to be taken for a fool. (p241)

Some people suggested that I should try something else. It was a lot of things, but nothing really stood out for me. Nothing felt right, and this job as an actor happened by coincidence.