With three kids, a business, a husband with a business, a house, a yard, and a very close extended family, my time is at a premium. This means I'm usually running as fast as I can to keep up with everything-and sometimes failing miserably in that endeavor. Recently I was caught between two major obligations, driving from one to the other, and late again.

In my mind I was ticking off all that had to be done when I got home: make supper, give the kids a bath, help with homework, straighten the house, lay out clothes for the morning… when suddenly the pickup in front of me put on his blinker and veered over to the empty lane beside us. I hit the brakes and then realized why he had stopped. A funeral procession.

Instantly although my first thought was, "Oh, no! I don't have time for this!" I, too pulled to the side of the road, turned off my radio and stopped just as the policeman and the hearse drove by. I looked past them to see how many cars with lights there were, and I realized I was going to be there for a while.

I had no idea. Because the procession was actually coming around a corner up the road, I couldn't actually see the whole thing, which could easily have been 200 cars. Nonetheless, as I sat there in silence, perspective began to fall around me. Here we on this side of the road were, living our lives, driving in the fast lane to get what we had to get done, seeming to have no time as it was, but when we needed to-out of courtesy or obligation-we stopped.

Life stopped so that we could all take a moment to recognize not only the grief of one family, but so that we could recognize that we, too, will one day be at the head of that funeral procession. "The question is, how long will that procession be?"

See, death and 24-hours, are the two great equalizers in this lifetime. We each have 24-hours to live our lives each day. You cannot buy more time. You cannot will more time. You cannot even strong-arm more time. You and the wino on the street have exactly the same amount of time. The only difference is in how you choose to use that time. However, here is a sobering thought-you and the greatest doctor on the earth also have the same number of hours in each day. He has used his brilliantly. How have you used yours?

Death is our other great equalizer. No matter who you are, where you are from, who you know, or how much money you have, one day you, too, will be laid out and leading that procession. The question is, how long will that procession be?

As I watched this person's procession, it became clear how this person had chosen to use those 24-hours a day that God had granted. Well. Very, very well indeed. The cars just kept coming and kept coming, rounding that bend and lining up until there was a mile of them, and they were still coming.

For one moment that day I stopped on my harried trek through life to really consider where I'm going on this road we call life, what it all means, and whether or not I'm head in the direction that I want to end up. It was well worth the stop.

Something interesting I've noticed: True life lessons work and translate to many different areas of life.

This revelation hit me the other day while I was listening to a cassette on having financial balance in your life. On the tape, the author talked about a goal setting seminar he went to. The lesson he was revealing is that too often when we set goals, we are setting the "have" part of the equation, then "doing" the work of getting to the goal without ever making the effort to "be" anything.
If you're paying attention, there's a math lesson that translates to this message. Any math person will tell you that there is a definite order to life. A + B = C, and if you get it out of that order, even the simplest of ideas can get overwhelmingly confusing. So this equation must begin with "be" not "do" or "have."

For example, people set a goal of meeting the right person. That is the "have" that they want, so they begin "doing" the things the world says make sense to get to that goal. They go to bars, they go to church, they go to work, they go to parties, they go to school-all with the spoken or unspoken intention of acquiring what they do not have, a partner. Years ago they called the females with this mindset, "Mrs. Majors." They were not in college to get a degree; they were in college to get a husband.

In today's world some of these types-men and women-have the "have" and "do" parts down to a science. One manifestation of this is the book, "The Rules." This book purports to explain exactly what you have to "do" to get the goal of "having" a mate. The problem is that this is completely senseless when you understand the equation of "be-do-have."


When you truly get this life lesson, it will have a profound impact on every aspect of your life. No longer will you focus solely on the goal-now you will focus on who you must first become, and the attainment of the goals will follow. "they who have been forced to "be" are now "doing" and "having""

I know, it sounds Pollyanna. It sounds so simple. But it's the simple-sounding things that are often the most difficult to actually do. I see this turmoil in teenagers a lot. They think that their identity is created by who they are with, what they wear, what their outward appearance is. The reality, however, is that identity is based on who you are.

That's why you hear of 10 and 20 year high school reunions in which the popular kids are now struggling and some of the most unpopular kids are now the successful adults. When you understand this equation, it makes perfect sense. Think about it. In high school, the "popular" kids already "have." They have the status, the good looks, the admiration of others. Why work for something you already have?

The unpopular kids on the other hand are forced to find their true identity not in the outer world, but in the inner world. So they work on themselves rather than on what the outside world says is important. Thus, 10 or 20 years down the road, they who have been forced to "be" are now "doing" and "having" in much greater proportion than those who "had" everything.

To be sure, this is a vast generalization. There are popular kids who take time out to work on themselves and "become," and there are unpopular kids who want to "have" so badly that they contort who they are trying to fit in. The exceptions are there, but so is the rule.

You have to be before you can do, and you have to do before you can have. If you don't, nothing you ever get will be enough. And if you do, whatever you have will be plenty. With this in mind, find some time today to fit a little "being" time into your "to-do" list. It may just turn out to be the best time investment you could ever make.

Tiger Woods’ late father, Earl, once said that things that could derail his son’s career were a bad injury or a bad marriage. It was the qualifying adjective that was the pertinent point.

A knee injury that required surgery at the end of 2002 slowed Tiger down only marginally while his marriage to Elin Nordegren in 2004 appears to have had a wholly positive effect on the world No l. Her support, and that of all his friends and family, was required more than ever when Earl passed away in May.

If turning 30 was a landmark of sorts for Woods, this season took on a poignancy he would never have wished for when his father finally succumbed to the cancer he had fought for eight years.

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply", Woods said in a moving tribute, while delivering his winner’s speech at the end of 135th Open Championship which took place at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, England between July 16 – 23.

"I’m overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend.

I wouldn’t be where I am today without him, and I’m honoured to continue his legacy of sharing and caring," declared the golf prodigy who sobbed in tears all through the speech making.

Earl Woods, who did two tours of duty as a Green Beret in Vietnam, developed a passion for golf that he passed on to his son when he was but a toddler in nappies. Encouraged, disciplined, trained, moulded, loved, Tiger was never the victim of pushy parent syndrome, as his continuing passion for the game demonstrates. ‘I knew Tiger was special the day he was born, "But Tiger was not created to be a golfer. He was made to be a good person, and that came first in our family", had declared to the World several times before he died.

Prominent in the early stages of his son’s career, Earl stepped back as Tiger matured into a person leading his own life. But Earl remained active behind the scenes in activities such as the Tiger Woods Foundation and he was a prime mover in setting up the Tiger Woods Learning Centre that opened in Anaheim, California in February.

One of the classic images from the Masters will remain the bear hug between father and son when Woods won his first Major championship by 12 strokes at Augusta in 997. When Woods won his fourth green jacket in 2005, Earl was not well enough to go to the course but was back at their rental home in the town.

Woods was as emotional as he has ever been in public when he said at the prizegiving that he could not wait to go back and share the moment with his ‘Pops’.

Tiger’s victory at St Andrews in 2005 was his 10th in a professional Major championship and combined with his three US Amateur titles he tied the mark of Bobby Jones for Major wins in both amateur and professional events. Jones achieved the feat when he was 28 and promptly retired from the game.

"To get to 13, with Jones, is amazing’, Woods said. ‘He had just an unbelievable career. He cut it short, too. To win that many tournaments that early in his career is amazing. I’ve been very blessed, I tell you that, to have had the luck and the fortune to win this many tournaments. It’s been a great ride."

Although he once held all four major titles at the same time, the one thing he has yet to replicate is Jones’s feat of winning four majors in the same season. Jones did it in 1930 and his win in The Open Championship came at Hoylake. Like Augusta National, the Old Course seems made for Woods and he obviously feels comfortable at both. Of the four other venues where he has won Majors, he also loves Pebble Beach, while Valhalla is a modern Jack Nicklaus design, Bethpage was monstrously long and Medinah also suits the bigger hitters. Woods has always embraced the links style of the game. Battling the elements does not faze him - growing up he would prefer playing on the wet and windy days rather than in the endless sunshine - but he did not consider his apprenticeship in links golf complete until he has won The Open away from St Andrews.

His near misses so far include a third place at Birkdale in 1998, fourth at Sandwich in 2003 and ninth at Troon in 2004.

‘There are some courses you just feel comfortable on, and the Old Course is certainly one of them, ‘Woods said’. I fell in love with it the first time I played it in 1995. Every hole was into the wind and I thought, what a great golf course.

I enjoy the lines here. I don’t feel uncomfortable over any shot. Whether Woods can find such instant rapport with Hoylake will be one of the fascinations of this year’s Open. Tiger Woods became the first player to win back-to-back Open Championships since Tom Watson (1982-83). He joined Phil Mickelson as the only two players to have won a major in each of the last two seasons. Mickelson has won a major in three consecutive years.

A rain of blessin to Tiger Woods (eagles digest magagine- keeping pple informed and adding value to lives)

Worsening poverty and the failure of the Federal Government to implement agreements reached with militant youths are responsible for the rising wave of unrests and hostage taking in the Niger Delta, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Bayelsa State, Mr. Moses Taribi, has said.
The party chieftain who spoke in Lagos on Tuesday night against the backdrop of the pull out of construction giant, Julius Berger, from the state, said unless concrete steps were taken to address the backwardness of the region, youth restlessness would persist.
“The situation in the region today is so bad that poverty walks naked on the streets and the lack of future has forced our youth to resort to unconventional method of seeking redress,” he said. The political adviser to the state governor, Chief Asara A Asara, had last Thursday blamed “desperate politicians” for the crisis in the region, claiming that that they were the ones inciting youths to take up arms and hold oil workers hostage.
But Taribi, who was once the chairman of Ogboiri South/Tarakiri Local Government Area, said this could not be correct, as there was sufficient evidence to show that several years of neglect had led grinding poverty in the area so much so that all the basic things of life were non-existent in the most of the area.
He traced the people’s agitation for development to the colonial times, saying the quest for a better deal led to its being granted a special status. “It was declared a special development area, and based on that, the Niger Delta Development Board was inaugurated in the 60s,” he said, explaining that, “the board was intended to address the developmental problems of that very hostile environment.”
The party chieftain said that despite the board’s efforts nothing substantial was done to reverse the problems, adding that the situation became worse after independence, particularly after oil was found in Oloibiri in 1959.
Taribi traced the history of the people’s violent agitation to the 12-day revolution of Isaac Adaka Boro, in 1966, saying because the problems the Ijaw nationalist fought against persisted, the youth had found it necessary to rise against them.
According to him, as far back as the Second Republic, sufficient warning was given that if the problems of underdevelopment was addressed it would lead to violent crisis.
He said: “In 1982 the Governor of old Rivers State, Senator Melford Okilo, addressed the Senate and mentioned that our generation is a patient generation but that the generation coming after us may not be as patient. And that if the issues of development were not addressed then and they lingered on to the impatient generation, the Niger Delta region might turn out to be an area that the nation might be forced to pay particular attention to.
Taribi said all that had been happening recently were only confirming Okilo’s prediction.
Coming to the present crisis, he said, it was obvious that the failure of the government to respond to the development needs of the people, and agreements reached with militant youths were responsible for the escalation in the hostilities.
Specifically, he identified the arrest and continued detention of a Niger Delta youth leader, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, as one of the reasons for the rising wave of hostage taking, saying the militant youth had warned that unless he was released, they might be forced to go violent.
“These are not facts that were hidden, everybody, including the security agencies is aware of this. And from then on, this new wave of hostage taking has started, he stated, adding, “To solve this problem, the Federal Government should implement the agreements it reached with the youth, because I know that there has been a lot of dialogue with the youth.”
Consequently, Taribi dismissed Jonathan’s political adviser’s claim that politicians were behind the militant’s activities in the state, saying he should apologise to Bayelsans for giving them “misleading information” bothering on the security of the state.
The Eagles digest Magazine crave the indulgence of the leadership of the indulgence of the Niger Delta region to help in fostering peace and security,and contibute to the growth and developement of the Niger Deltas'

After several months of painstaking research by a group of skilled analysts in Phillips Consulting Limited, the company’s Afroscholars initiative is now ready to roll. An aggregation of over 10, 000 scholarships and grants in the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden and Nigeria for now, www.afroscholars.com is an online resource providing accurate, comprehensive and meaningful information on scholarships for which Africans are eligible. The goal is to contribute to the immense development of human and intellectual capacity of the African continent.
It also provides visa and travel information on destinations of interest, as well as e-learning tools that assist aspiring scholars to prepare for qualifying exams such as GMAT, GRE, SAT and so on. The portal consists of paid and unpaid sections and access to the paid sections is granted via tenured access pins available for as low as N100.
To strengthen the reach and range of the initiative and to ensure its sustainability, Phillips Consulting, last Tuesday, signed an agreement with UBA Group, through the UBA Foundation and MTN Nigeria.
At the formal signing ceremony, the Executive Director of Phillips Consulting, Mrs. Adedoyin Odunfa, said, “The portal is targeted primarily at students of secondary schools and tertiary institutions as well as young persons in the workforce, who still desire to further their education either locally or internationally. The initiative is also endorsed by the UNESCO office in Nigeria.”
Whereas “international scholarships and grants are targeted at the so called developed countries or first world”, Odunfa said, “there are actually lots of scholarships targeted at the developing world, but finding them is time intensive, tedious and for many, simply an exercise in frustration.”
On the partnership between the three companies, the Executive Director, Group Shared Services of the UBA Group, Mr. Phillips Oduoza said “UBA, through its Foundation, will collaborate with its two partners to provide access to over 10,000 scholarships/grants from the foremost educational institutions globally. This will enable Africans benefit from important developments worldwide and be powerful agents of change who will contribute positively to growth in the continent.
“With its pan-African focus, the Afroscholars project closely follows UBA’s aspirations to dominate with strong footprints in the African market. UBA Foundation, through its education programs, has established its own scholarships. This close linkage is one of the reasons why the Afroscholars project was viewed with such excitement when it was first proposed.
Oduoza, who was represented by the General Manager, Electronic and Transaction Banking Suite, Mr. Tunji Adesida said, “MTN and UBA already share a strong partnership through which the dominant GSM operator, with an unprecedented network reach, and the leading Financial Services Group in Nigeria, with over 430 branches nationwide, will provide superior solutions which will benefit all Nigerian consumers. This alliance with Phillips Consulting, the pre-eminent Consulting Firm in Nigeria, to support a noble initiative merely consolidates the existing partnership. We believe with the calibre of the partners collaborating in this venture, education will never be the same again for Africans.”
MTN’s General Manager - Consumer Marketing, Mr. Olu Akanmu described scholarship as a barrier breaker that “provides opportunities for all to get the best of education, as long as they are qualified, irrespective of their social or economic backgrounds. Such democratisation of opportunities and access is what MTN has done with telecommunications in Nigeria.”
He said his company believes that “the project will contribute to building our human resource capacity for long term economic growth. The Afroscholar project by enabling scholarship, education and information for Nigerian youths also connects them to abundant life opportunities. (It) will democratise life opportunities for Nigerian youths by providing them information that moves them ahead in their world, connects them to their dreams and fulfills their long term hopes and aspiration.”
While noting that the three essentials of life, in the past, were food, shelter and clothing; Akanmu said, “today, there are now four basic essentials of life - food, shelter, clothing and information. MTN service, apart from enabling Nigerians to build relationships that matter to them, also provides our people access to essential information to move them ahead in life.
To use the portal, three payment platforms are operational: An MTN short code; the InterSwitch Debit/ATM Card and Pin Mailers which will be available at UBA branches and MTN Friendship Centre Nationwide. To make it affordable, access is tenured and repeat visits are expected. Research is on-going to cover other parts of the world such as Canada, Australia, other parts of Europe and Asia. The initiative which is being rolled out in Nigeria first, is to be rolled out rapidly across the rest of the continent. Dakar, Senegal is the springboard for the roll-out in French-speaking Africa in January next year; to be followed in February, by the roll-out in English-speaking Africa, beginning with Ghana and Kenya.
Other roll-out activities, scheduled to begin early next month, include capacity building forum for the press, corporate launch in secondary and tertiary institutions, unveiling of the site, university roadshows and regional launches in the six geo-political zones, among others.
Akanmu pledged that “MTN will be with the Afroscholar's project team on its road shows, on campuses and every where. We shall also make available our services and technologies to enable hassle- free access to Afroscholar services. Let our youths and indeed our nation fulfil their dreams and "be what they want to be."
Eagles digest Magazine sincerely commends the Phillips consulting group, the UBA, and other groups for this project.