Comments

Comments can be nice. When I was in the 4th grade my dad with a group of other men presented a bill to the Oregon legislature that would ban raising crops with the intent not to harvest them, in order to attract wildlife. This was before our National Wildlife Refuges in the Willamette Valley. A man by the name of Glasser, between Albany and Corvallis had a huge duck club. Dad was convinced the reason we were having a hard time shooting any ducks was because they were all at Glassers. Glasser planted hundreds of acres of corn and left it for the ducks and his hunters. Dad thought it would be good PR if I testified in front of the legislature. And I did. My picture was on the the front page of the Statesman. However that was nothing like what happened earlier that day.

I went to school that day in a suit and tie I had for church. Dad would pick me up at school. Mom always tried to see that I looked nice. I was in Mrs. Boardman's class (some of you will remember her, she later taught at Brush College.) Anyway, there was a pretty girl in class that came up to me that morning and made this exact comment, "My Eric Olsen you look handsome today." As comments go that is the first comment I can ever remember. In fact for a long time it was the only comment I ever remembered. It is still is on my top ten list of comments. I remember it as if it happened yesterday. I have liked comments ever since.