"Hey, Mom"

Happy Sunday! Sunday! It's time to share another excerpt from my book, Climbing Mountains with God. This week, we will have a small part of Chapter Nine. As I missed sending a story last week, this one is a bit longer than usual. I hope you enjoy and come away with an understanding of my strong feelings about an issue that comes up in every session of Congress.

Here is a part of that story.

Let me share with you a non-agricultural example of PAC activity. I support the pro-life movement as a matter of high personal interest. In Chapter One, I told you the story of 19-year-old Helen Blair.

Here is a quick summary of that story. I was born in the Florence Crittenton Home for Unwed Mothers in Sioux City, Iowa. My birth mother was a 19-year-old girl who knew she had no way to support and raise me. She gave me birth and turned me over to an adoption agency, knowing I would find a good home. She named me Roger Blair. That is the name on my first Birth Certificate.

I found a good home with a wonderful farm couple. They changed my name to James Ross Lightfoot. Today, Mom and Dad are Angels in Heaven. On a personal note, I miss them very, very much.

I would not have a great wife, four beautiful children, and five fantastic grandchildren and be sitting here writing this book had my birthmother selected the abortionist’s knife and had me killed before I even took a breath of fresh air, or like under current law, where the murder can take place after I am born.

At my age, I thank God for waking me up, looking at the green side of the grass. Each new day is a new blessing.

You can rest assured that thanking God for my life is my first prayer as soon as I wake up.

I’m not bashful regarding making my beliefs on abortion known if pro-choice folks decide to push on me. It is a fight I never start but am more than willing to finish.

Pro-life and Christian groups support me in standing up for their beliefs. These folks have a couple of small PACs.

The pro-choice folks have much more money than those who identify as pro-life. Abortion is a multi-million-dollar business.

***

One last item on the abortion issue before moving on.

A call comes in with an invitation to appear on the Phil Donahue TV Show. Donahue wants to do a program on the abortion issue as it is a hot topic in the news. I will be paired with Congresswoman Barbara Boxer from California. Ms. Boxer is a strong proponent of abortion.

My staff all said in loud voices, “No! Don’t do it, boss!”

Since the abortion issue is such a hot topic in the news and we have been rocking along smoothly and level, the staff’s legitimate fear is that a misspoken word or phrase from me could bring my congressional career crashing down around my neck. Staff, honestly, felt doing the show was too risky of a move as we are experiencing nasty things from the pro-abortion crowd at home. The Des Moines Register, Iowa’s largest newspaper, strongly supports the pro-abortion people. My picture is not on the piano of anyone working at the Register!

The bottom line is that the staff nailed it.

Putting things in proper perspective and appearing on the Donahue Show is a huge risk I don’t have to take. The staff is 100% correct.

But something is ticking in my head that keeps telling me I should do the show. Nancy and I discuss it at great length. She tells me that if I feel like I should do the show, call the Donahue folks back and make the proper arrangements.

I make the call.

Nancy and I fly to New York City compliments of the Phil Donahue Show, and they put us up in a nice hotel for the night. The following day, a limousine picks us up for the ride to the TV studio. Nancy and I feel like, as they say in the South, we are in tall cotton. I have always believed my face is made for the radio, so being a “TV star” is a brand-new experience at the head of a list of new adventures in the years ahead.

Once in the TV studio, the staff directs us to restrooms and a makeup room. While the production lady applies my “made for TV” makeup, Mr. Donahue steps into the dressing room to say hello, followed by small talk and what he wants the show to be. He asks me to be the simple-minded combative person the pro-abortion people have painted those who are pro-life.

Hmm? Is this thing rigged? I smell a mouse.

Almost airtime. A TV floor staff member leads Nancy to her seat in the audience. TV production staff wire me for sound and then lead me to the chair I will be seated in for the show.

I have a few things prepared in my mind for the opening as Ms. Boxer, and I are to have a sort of opening statement period to make our case.

Show time! Donahue does his opening schtick, introduces each of us, and then calls on Ms. Boxer to go first. She gives her argument supporting abortion. It sounds like a canned political speech with all the correct words to please her pro-abortion followers. She finishes her remarks, and Donahue turns to me for my argument against abortion.

Everything I have prepared to say suddenly leaves my mind in a puff of smoke. However, in their place is the idea of giving my argument speaking as the voice of the still un-aborted, unborn child. I can ask the questions I would ask if I believed abortion was on the schedule for me while I was still in the womb. This presentation will make the case better than any prepared statement I have ever made. The words just come. God was filling my mouth with a powerful message.

During the commercial breaks, the 100% pro-Donahue audience lets me know my ideas, and I am not the least bit welcome in New York! When a station break starts, several TV crew members rush to Ms. Boxer with water to drink, fix her hair and makeup, and fuss over her. Donahue chats with her gleefully. The chatter is all about what a fantastic job she is doing.

I am totally ignored, except for one TV crew member who briefly looks at the makeup on my face. She appears to be pro-life, suggesting what I need to say. She may be legitimate, but I don’t trust her. Everything is rigged against me, so why wouldn’t they send me a plant?

Support Canada Free Press

I will give Phil Donahue credit for being fair by giving each of us equal time. When the show concluded, he approached me and shook hands, thanking me for appearing on his show. He was frank when he said, “There is certainly no doubt you believe in where you stand!”

The show is over; the limousine takes us to the airport. It is only a short time until we board our plane and take off for Washington, DC. Commercial flying is a lot easier than today.

Nancy and I chat a bit about the show until I fall asleep. Neither of us can recall anything from the show that was a slip of the tongue, a misquote or statement of fact, any tiny thing the loyal opposition would blow into an atomic explosion against me.

When we arrived at the office in DC, the staff was excited. They believe I have done an excellent job with no snafus. Because of the Donahue Show, I received a good bit of mail in the next couple of weeks. Most of it is positive, with a few very nasty ones mixed in. It has always amazed me how authors of such hateful diatribes are self-righteous people who are so over-the-top foul, and ugly.

For example: “I am for a woman’s safety and right to choose whether she wants to have a baby, but you dumb, ignorant man do not have a clue about how abortion is a right and privilege for any woman to choose! Don’t tell me what I can do with my body!”

I cannot tell you how often I have heard that or some variation. I believe the last sentence is the telltale. It’s all about “me.” They have a very selfish attitude. The unborn child’s future is given absolutely no consideration in their thinking.

In the minds of the pro-abortion crowd, it is never a child; it is always a “problem” to be solved.

If I am in a mood to really trip their trigger, my response is, “I do not support abortion unless the life of the Mother is in danger. I believe in your right to choose, but the choice should be made at the time of conception.” That answer will send the pro-abortion crowd into orbit!

In the real world, not all choices can be made at conception. Sometimes approved contraceptives do not work. Married couples experience accidental pregnancies.

I don’t have the slightest idea about the circumstances of my conception. However, I know my birth mother made the right choice about not having an abortion. Why should the little baby resulting from an unintended conception, who had absolutely nothing to do with that conception, be the one that pays the price with their life?

Carrying a child to term can be extremely difficult. A birth mother has a responsibility for her choices. If she does not want or cannot raise her child, that child can be given a good home through adoption. The child does not have to be murdered.

An “accidental” child in a marriage has the same right to live. If the natural parents feel they are in a position where they cannot raise the child, they can make another couple happy by putting their baby up for adoption.

My favorite letter from my appearance on the Donahue Show is from a young lady who wrote that she called and canceled her abortion appointment after watching the show.

I carried her letter in my billfold until it completely wore out.

After writing this story in the book about the Donahue show, I took a little nap. When I awoke, something was telling me to write a piece for an op-ed. I grab the laptop and write an article.

I just felt like God is telling me to do it.

What I wrote is based on my recollections from my opening statement on the Donahue Show.

Here is what I submitted to several newspapers and an electronic newspaper online named “Canada Free Press.” Canada Free Press has the theme “Because, without America, there is no free world.” The owner of CFP is Judi Mcleod, an award-winning journalist who felt the World needed another voice to speak the truth about world happenings.

Here is my op-ed.

***

“Hey, Mom”

Jim Ross Lightfoot

August 2, 2021

“Hi, Mom. This is me here, in your tummy. Would you please take a minute to listen to me before the abortionist’s sharp knife ends my life, even before I get a chance to breathe or shortly after that first breath?

“I won’t take but a few seconds of your time.

“Please, Mom. Will you listen?

“First of all, as you well know, I had absolutely nothing to do with my being here! It was a choice you made, an accident, or, I certainly hope not, a result of a sexual assault and rape.

“Regardless of the circumstances, Mom, you have nurtured and fed me for nearly nine months. The food has been really good, and I have grown.

“I’m so glad you quit smoking and using those nasty old drugs! They may have made you feel better, but they knocked the heck out of me!

“I am so anxious to see this new World you are bringing me into!

“Will I grow up to be a farmer, a merchant, or maybe a doctor or lawyer? Wow, that would be neat! You know, I might know the cure for cancer or any of the other terrible diseases that plague the World. Shoot, I might even be the first person to ever land on Mars!

“Hey, Mom, what if I grew up and became the President of the United States? Now that would be a trip you and I could enjoy!

“Of course, Mom, I will have to be born first and then grow up before doing any of these things.

“I’ll bet you didn’t know I could hear from in here, did you? Yep, the TV, telephone, people visiting with you, even your Mother ragging on you to get rid of me. I want her to be my grandmother, but I guess she doesn’t want me around. I have heard her say that I would be too much bother and an embarrassment.

“And I have heard other, very hurtful things said. My Dad doesn’t want me either. I guess he wants to continue dating other girls and push you aside. That’s too bad as you are a nice Mom and, I think, a very nice person.

“Okay, I’m going to try to sound like a grown-up now. Regardless of the reason I am here, is there a valid reason why I can’t be born? Just one?

“You know, I have heard about this thing called abortion. I don’t know all about how it works, but I do know I will be killed and discarded.

“I hope you will not let me get killed.

“Let me take that first gulp of air, and then some nice people will take care of me and see that I find a good home with parents that care. I think that’s how adoption works.

“Wow! That would be great for me! And I think it would be great for you too. Maybe someday in the future, we could get together again just to say hello, and say I love you.

“Please, Mom. Think it over really well. With putting me up for adoption, there would only be one thing in your life to regret and maybe you might even forget you accidentally got pregnant.

“If you don’t give me this chance to live my life, then I think you will be forever haunted by making two mistakes; getting pregnant and then murdering your baby.

“I hear adults go to prison for killing each other. From my warm place here, I can’t see much difference.

“Well, I will just wait now to see what you decide.

“I love you.”

***

In my mind, this is not an imaginary one-sided conversation. It happens every day, many times per day.

My adoptive parents are a wonderful farm couple who cannot bear children. They raise me to be a responsible person. I enjoy and have been blessed with an exciting, engaging, and fruitful life.

Having ridden this old rock, we call Earth around the Sun nearly 86 times gives me a perspective not seen by younger folks. Nothing I have seen in all that time has changed my negative beliefs regarding abortion. Plain and simple, it is the murder of an innocent child.

I met my birth mother several years ago. She is a warm, wonderful lady who lived a tough life. She became pregnant at the tender age of 19. Knowing she had no means to raise me, she checked into the Florence Crittenton Home for Unwed Mothers in Sioux City, IA.

I now know and love a stepbrother and two stepsisters. They live in Nevada. There is one other stepbrother who committed suicide and a stepsister who died from cancer.

And like they say, the rest is history.

I pray some young lady considering having an abortion will read this and will change her mind.

Yes, I hold powerful beliefs regarding abortion and vote for those beliefs. The money from pro-life groups is much appreciated as it is helpful in a campaign, but they do not “own” me; I am one of them. I vote the way I do because that is what I believe.

***

This is just one of the many personal stories in my book "Climbing Mountains with God."You can purchase "Climbing Mountains With God" on Amazon.com and get it shipped directly to you.

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You can Venmo me for an Autographed Copy for $15.00 + $5.00 (S&H) = Total $20.00. Be sure to include who you want the book autographed for and a return shipping address!

Stay tuned. There will be another short story from my book coming next week.

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