Eagle’s Eye – The Power of Words

My wife (Claudia) very carefully dressed herself. Her makeup was applied in a meticulous manner with a fine brush. She brushed her hair numerous times, all the while making sure that each hair was in place. Claudia selected a pair of pants with a matching jacket. She dressed in a gingerly manner so that no wrinkles would appear on her carefully ironed selections. Claudia held her jacket up to the light to make sure that no lint or animal hairs adhered to it. She examined her blouse as she buttoned it up and then slipped on a carefully matched, carefully ironed jacket. Finally she selected a hat. She stood in front of her mirror and using two hands set it upon her head.
I impatiently stood at the foot of our stairs waiting as she descended dressed in her finery.
Claudia pursed her lips “Do I look okay?”
I responded with “Yeh, fine.”
Evidently, that was the wrong thing for me to say.
“Is there something wrong with how I’m dressed?”
“No, no. You look fine.”
“Are you sure? You don’t sound very convincing.”
All that I would have had to say was “Hey beautiful, you look great!”  All of the world would have been different, but by my saying “Yeh, fine;” I ended up planting the seeds of doubt in her mind.
It’s amazing, how a person can say one thing, but with different words convey different thoughts.
The other day, I saw a very touching and meaningful video. It was less than two minutes long; I think that it was shot at a shopping area in either Liverpool, or Glasgow.
A blind man sat in front of the steps of a public building. A flat cardboard extended from beneath him and out beyond his feet. Behind him someone had fashioned a crude cardboard sign that read: “I’m blind. Please help.”
A tin can sat on the cardboard in front of him.
Passerby’s would glance at the man and fling an occasional coin into his tin can. No one appeared to pay him much attention.
A young well-dressed woman approached. She glanced at the man as she walked by. She walked several yards and then all at once stopped. She turned around and walked back to where the blind man sat.
The man reached out and touched her shoes.
The woman reached over and took the blind man’s sign and started writing something on its back.
She set the sign down and continued walking finally disappearing into the crowd.
Soon, coins started cascading into the blind man’s tin can. People would stop, read the mans sign and reach into their pockets and their wallets and place money into the can that sat in front of him.
Later on in the day, the young well-dressed woman returned. Once again she stood in front of him and once again, he reached over and touched her shoes.
“What did you do to me sign?” he asked.
She responded “I wrote the same, but different words.”
“Thank you!” said the blind man.
What did the sign say?  The sign read: “It’s a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”
The video concluded with “Change your words and change your world.”
Proverbs 15:1 reads “A kind answer soothes angry feelings…” (Contemporary English Version),
Words do have power, they can sooth, they can heal, they can help and they can inspire. We just need to be careful, how we use them.
The video that I mentioned can be viewed on YouTube: You can go to it by doing a search for “The Power of Words.”
Thoughts? Comments? Share yours and you could win the $100 GRAND PRIZE drawing! Share your thoughts and Let’s Chat! Lots of goodies available for giveaway, and everyone is entered into the drawing.

Eagle’s Eye – Debit Card

It was a Saturday and the phone rang. The caller I.D. read “Toll Free.”  A radio was playing in the background and I was more intent on listening to it than to my telephone answering machine.
The answering machine clicked on and I pretty much expected the caller to hang up. I could hear fragments of what appeared to be a message. “This is Bank of the… Claudia’s MasterCard … Unauthorized charges…”
“What the heck?”  I turned my radio off and replayed the answering machine message.
The message was from MasterCard. It warned me that there might be unauthorized charges on my wife’s debit card.
I went on line and accessed our checking account. Sure enough there was an unauthorized charge.
I immediately called my bank.
I spoke to a man who asked: “What is your wife’s Debit card number?” I mumbled something, while my wife hunted for her card.
“Will my checking account number help?” I asked
“Yes,” the man replied. “What are the last eight of your twelve digit number?”
I looked at my wife’s checks and started to get confused. “Uhhh, the last four numbers are the check numbers, so that… lets…see?”
I started reading numbers and they were the wrong ones.
“Can I have the last four digits of the account holder’s Social Security Number?” Asked the man.
I gave him my number
“I’m sorry sir, but that isn’t the correct number.”
“Whoops. I guess we used my wife’s number for this account.’
Fortunately, I had that written down and gave it to him.
My wife, by this time, had also managed to find her debit card. I gave the man her number.
“Yes,” said the bank rep. “They attempted to charge over $700 to CVS Pharmacy in New York.”
My wife exclaimed “New York? We live in Oregon!”
“There were a total of three separate charges at that drug store.” He said.  “MasterCard stopped two of them but one charge managed to sneak through.”
My wife moaned “Does this mean that I’m going to lose my money?”
“No ma’am,” he replied. You’ll need to fill out an affidavit that we’ll mail you stating that you haven’t made any of these charges. You will have ten days to mail it back to us. I’m sure that you will be able to recover all of your money. We’ve cancelled your debit card and we’ll issue you a new one.”
What a relief.
Three weekdays went by and no affidavits appeared in the mail.
I called the manager of my bank.
She was adamant “Don’t wait for a letter, you need to come down right away. We can produce an affidavit here and you can sign it and we’ll fax it in. “
Five minutes later, my wife and I were at the bank filling out papers.
I asked: “How were these people able to get my wife’s Debit card number? Claudia hardly ever uses hers.”
The bank manager smiled: “She doesn’t have to use it. We’re dealing with organized crime. They have computer programs that generate numbers, and when one works, they stamp out a card. The card probably didn’t have Claudia’s name or our bank’s name on it. Most places don’t care. You were just lucky that the fraud division caught it.”
We were lucky. I hope that we stay lucky. My advice is to continually check your balances. If you can go on line, do so. You might be sorry if you don’t.
And your bank might not be as alert or accommodating as mine.
Pray that this sort of thing doesn’t happen to you.

Eagle’s Eye – My ‘Smart’ Phone

Wow! I got myself a smart phone.
It was one of those high tech marvels that cost lots of bucks and is supposed to answer a person’s every need.
My daughter bought one first and showed it to me. Her phone had all sorts of features. It had a virtual compass, a virtual spirit level, and a radio. It could do mathematics, display maps, give directions and even tell me what’s playing at our local movie house.
I was impressed.
It had an 8 megapixel camera and flash.
My daughter showed me more: “It has a Kindle, You can read books at night when the lights are out, and you won’t keep mom up.”
I was even more impressed.
“Dad, look at this. It has a built in camcorder so that you can take videos. , Not only can you take videos, but you can also watch movies on your TV. You can download Netflix with it.”
Was I ever impressed.
I knew in my heart that I just had to have one of those super duper smart phones.
No more would I have to mess with my little flip phone, I would now have a power house that could be used to watch TV movies, play arcade games and tell me the price of gas at the nearest gas station.”
“I’m due for an upgrade. I told her. “I think I’ll order one of those great phones.“
I did just that, and it arrived the next day via overnight mail.
It looked impressive.
I started to set my email and then received a nasty surprise. The telephone didn’t have a real keyboard. It had a virtual keyboard and my fat fingers didn’t fit well on virtual keys. It took me well over an hour just to type in my login and password.
My telephone made a groaning noise.
“Oh my gosh, “ I cried. “Someone’s calling me.”
I fumbled with the phone and tried to answer. No buttons, no keyboard, and the phone continued to groan.
I pushed everything that I could push and rubbed my fingers all over its virtual screen. I finally managed to bring something up.
Too late, the caller had fled.
No problem, after some time and a few mistakes, I eventually figured out how to answer my phone.
My blue tooth was another problem. I could only partially synch, I could hear sound, but was unable to transmit my voice. I called tech support (on a land line) and they told me that my model of blue tooth was too old and this phone was much too sophisticated.
I ordered a new Blue tooth.
I decided to access my bank online and check my account.
Fat fingers again. It seemed to take me forever to log in and write my password; the same thing with my Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and Google accounts.
“Curse those fat fingers!”
My friend Bob is very much into things electronic. I showed him my new “State of the Art” smart phone and he sneered: “It’s only 3G. Why didn’t you hold out for 4G?”
Huh?
Wow! I got myself a new smart phone, and a 2 year contract. I wonder how much it will cost for me to get my old flip phone back?

Eagle’s Eye – The Shrine

By Bill Eagle, Columnist

I like to walk daily. On my walks, I visit with neighbors, wave to other walkers/joggers, and pet animals. I notice things around me, and will often see day-to-day changes. One thing that caught my interest was a power pole.
On the power pole was tacked a faded plasticized picture of a handsome young man. Lettered underneath the picture was the young man’s name and the inscription “ In Loving Memory, Feb 16, 1987 – October 31, 2006.” At the base of the power pole were some flowers in a vase.
I continued walking.
From time to time things would change. The flowers died and were replaced.
Every day that I walked that route, I would look at the picture and the mementos at the power pole base. I thought to myself that this was a young man, not yet 19, who’s life probably ended someplace close to this spot.
Fall arrived and sitting next to the flowers was a small beautifully carved pumpkin, with an unlit candle inside. A snickers bar sat next to the pumpkin.
Someone had to be stopping by, and placing things by the pole.
Christmas season, and the cut flowers were replaced with artificial flowers and a tiny plastic tree. A new picture replaced the old one.
I continued to ask people about the shrine at the base of the power pole, most people expressed ignorance.
No so, my friend Lynn. Lynn is a former teacher and is actively involved with youth. She immediately knew about the shrine.
“He was a very handsome boy and he had a lot of potential,” said Lynn. “He attended the alternative school.”
“What happened to him?” I asked.
“He was partying with friends, and had too much to drink. He was traveling way too fast. His car became airborne and crashed.”
“His parents must have loved him.”
“Everyone loved him, “said Lynn. “He was brilliant. He had a future, and now he’s dead.”
I shook my head. “What a waste.”
“He’s not the only one on that road,” interjected Lynn.
“No?”
Lynn replied. “I’m a member of MADD; Mothers against Drunk Driving. Many deaths, particularly those of young people could have been avoided.
People do dumb things, and it’s really dumb to drink and drive. Keep your eyes open. You’ll notice that there are other shrines along that road. A lot of young and older people have died there. People with potential, people who could have helped others and made our world better. …Such a waste.”
I like to walk daily, and in my walks I have noticed that there are (as Lynn pointed out to me) other shrines, and crosses.
I think about these people and the lives that they have lived, and the lives that they could have lived.
At times I have felt compelled to buy flowers and leave them on a shrine. Somehow I know that it is a meaningless act. I feel helpless when I think about it.
Do you think there might be some way for us to call attention to these deaths, a way that might be able to help others? I do wonder.
M.A.D.D. is an organization that promotes awareness of drunk driving, and the impact that it has on the world around us, especially in young teen lives. Here is the mission statement, taken from their web site: http://madd.org
“The mission of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking.”  To date, MADD’s work has saved nearly 300,000 lives…and counting.
Candy Lightner founded MADD in 1980 after her daughter, Cari, was killed by a repeat drunk driving offender. Cindy Lamb—whose daughter, Laura, became the nation’s youngest quadriplegic at the hands of a drunk driver—soon joined Candy in her crusade to save lives.
Don’t drink and drive.

Eagle’s Eye – January 2011

This December, my Kiwanis Club rang bells for the Salvation Army. My wife (Claudia) and I both signed up for a couple of shifts. The weather was nippy so we wore warm sweaters and socks and took gloves. We were both determined to ring bells and collect money to help people, not freeze to death.
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Christmas Leaves

Kermit balanced a chest high package on his walker as he pushed his way up my front steps. The walker made clanking sounds as he painfully climbed to my home’s entryway. If anyone were to observe his progress, they would have seen that he was not having an easy time. He reached over the side of his walker and leaned on my doorbell. Kermit rang several times.

My face exploded into a big grin as I opened the door. “Hey Kermit, what’s up my friend?”
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KDCCP

KDCCP stands for Kiwanis Doernbecher Children’s Cancer Program. Their board of directors is made up of members from Kiwanis clubs in Oregon and southern Washington. I am pleased to say that I have been a member of this board since 2000.
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Saint Helens Mini Volcano

I am an old guy, and other than in my ears, really don’t have much hair on my head. I have been told that when the sun is out, the reflection from my hatless head can be blinding.

To be politically correct you might say that I am “follically deficient.” Despite my lack of hair, I will still, on occasion, require a haircut.
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Winning Raffle Ticket!

The winning raffle ticket for the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Raffle was drawn by Lisa Hardner.  Lisa is 15 years old and a Sophomore from West Salem High School.  She is an outpatient at Doernbecher. On Jan 12, 2008, she was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a type of bone Cancer.

Lisa has had 7 surgeries and boasts 13 different scars.
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Walking

I rather enjoy walking. I have a route that I walk daily. It is up one side of a steep hill and then down the other side. After I complete the hill, I turn around and walk it again from the opposite direction. My daily walk is a little less than two miles and takes me about a half hour to complete.
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