Counselor Takes A Minute To Help
‘Good morning.” Eli Ross waves his hand at the television camera pointed at him. “Stop, cut. It may not be morning when they see this.”
He composes himself, finds the right place to hold his prop and signals his readiness.
“Hello. This is Dr. Eli T. Ross with your family tip for the day,” he says, gently authoritative.
Eli is a Coeur d’Alene family counselor who wants to heal the world. He found last fall that he could advise thousands through television and never leave his home office.
“I’ve got a little ham in me,” he says, chuckling while the cameraman zeroes in on a prop.
Eli loves props. He uses belts, soap, books - anything to illustrate his theme of the moment. As the camera light goes on, he holds up a belt for his talk on hitting below the belt.
“If your belt is too high, it needs to be lowered. You may be too sensitive to relate to people,” he says, his tie and V-neck sweater pushing the friendly professor image.
He suggests people search their pasts to discover why they’re sensitive to certain things. Then he signs off.
Eli has wanted to heal families since he grew up in New York as peacemaker to his warring parents in the 1940s.
“That left an indelible mark on me,” he says. “I often fell asleep to their arguments.”
He chose to teach until his pastor asked him to counsel church families 20 years ago.
Most of the couples who came to him suffered from hurt feelings and poor communication. Eli was familiar with both. His own marriage ended in divorce after 17 years.
He put to work his doctorate in human behavior and was pleased with the response. But he wanted more.
Last September, Eli interested KXLY-TV in his minute-long, family health tips.
Now, his wisdom on gift-giving, compulsive behavior, dream interpretation and much more air on Channel 4, three times a week at 11 a.m.
His next goal is syndication.
“I think we all have a mission,” he says. “You never know when one single thing is said that someone holds onto for a lifetime.”
Helping hands
Coeur d’Alene’s Windermere Realty has a good idea how to spend money from the sale of our homes. Its agents put part of their commission into a fund to help North Idaho’s homeless families.
Windermere just gave St. Vincent de Paul’s Transitional Housing Center $2,600 to train its tenants to use computers to find jobs. What’s your business doing for the community?
Spin yer pardner
If you haven’t done the Salty Dog Rag since junior high, now’s your chance. Coeur d’Alene’s Harding Family Center will live up to its name Thursday when it opens its doors at 7 p.m. for a family country dance.
The Lundbergh Brothers Band will play the tunes and people who know what they’re doing will teach the dances. What a great way to end a weekday.
The dance is part of the Snowflake Festival that a busy group of volunteers organized to keep spirits up in dreary February. Good move…
Peak experiences
The rain, slush and dreariness can’t dim the glow I still feel from ice skating last week on Lake Coeur d’Alene under a full moon.
My daughter and I made jittery circles in the ice flakes glittering in the moonlight. We flapped our arms for balance without fear of hitting anyone. We celebrated that this Currier and Ives scene was real and that we were part of it.
I’ll talk about that revitalizing night on the lake long after I forget the recent dreary days. What was the high point of your winter this year? Spill the details for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd, Coeur d’Alene 83814; FAX to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo