Have you ever felt as if you were very blessed? I know some folks might say “lucky” instead of blessed, but I don’t believe in luck. Things happen for a reason. A reason that only God knows.
I was blessed to have taken my first breath in the Florence Crittenden Home for Unwed Mothers in Sioux City, Iowa almost exactly one year before the outbreak of World War II.
My birth mother thought my life was just as important as hers. At the age of 19, she knew she was not in a position to raise a child. That left her two choices: have me aborted or put me up for adoption. She chose the latter, rather than going through life carrying the load of two bad choices and mistakes.
A wonderful farm couple who were unable to have children gave me a fantastic home and upbringing. Luck? I don’t think so.
Much has been written regarding the time period in which I grew up. All of us born and raised in this era are considered to be the smallest generation in United States history. Today, something over 95% of us have left this Earth. According to the so-called experts, this was the best time period in which to have grown up.
I’m no expert, but I think the professional experts are 100% correct.
We knew and respected each other. We learned about hard work and how important good honest work was to be successful. Neighbors helped neighbors without even the slightest thought of pay. Honesty was paramount. Your word was your bond. It was a trusting time. I don’t believe my folks ever found a key for our house. Car keys were always easy to find. They were in the car — in the ignition.
In school, discipline was rigid. Our principal had hanging in his office “The Board of Education!” This was a 1-inch-thick piece of pine board about 4 inches wide and a yard long. On one end, a very nice handle had been cut for ease in handling the board. A series of holes had been bored in the wood to cut down the air resistance when the board was swung through the air to land on the seat of a student causing major trouble.
If the occasion arose where getting Mom and Dad in on the discipline was necessary, it was you against the superintendent, the principal and your parents. Not the other way around as it is today, and lawsuits were totally unheard of.
Most of us were what you might consider poor. However, our parents had gone through the Great Depression and knew how to live on very little by utilizing anything available to them.
We raised our own food. Trips to the grocery store were for flour, sugar, salt and pepper, items we could not raise ourselves. Until he went to Heaven at the age of 92, Dad could still squeeze a dollar bill to the point George Washington’s eyes would water!
I grew up listening to the radio, there was no TV until the end of my senior year in high school. Also, I can remember living without electricity, a hand pump outside the kitchen door for water and a long walk to the “outhouse” way out back.
People drive what happens with their thoughts and deeds
The internet, social media, cellphones and a thousand other things available today were in the minds of people yet to be born.
We did have our own form of “instant messaging.” Act up in town, at school, the county fair or wherever, that news seemed to always get home before you did.
Today, particularly with the situation our country is in today, I have heard many say, “I wish we could go back to the old days when things were more peaceful and not on edge all the time.”
It’s a fact, we can’t go back. The only direction is forward.
However, one of the best teachers in the world is history. We can learn about mistakes as well as positive things that resulted from certain actions taken by governments and people. Also, history repeats itself. Why? Because man doesn’t read history and then learn you can’t be making the same stupid mistake over and over.
What I am proposing is that all of us take a real deep breath and read a little history, then apply what we learn to the future. Can we go back to those, “Good Old Days”? No! The World has changed a great deal; however, the one constant is people. People drive what happens with their thoughts and deeds.
If each one of us does their best to correct something they see going wrong — in our churches, organizations, communities, school boards and our elected officials at all levels — we can make a positive change. Do not be afraid to speak up. Write email, snail mail, to the politicians’ local offices and the newspaper, radio and TV stations. Visit the local offices of federal politicians, and let them know your feelings. After all, they all are elected to represent and work for us all, not for themselves!
May God bless America and all the good things she stands for.
--First published in the Longview News Journal
James R. Lightfoot, Lightfoot Strategies served in Congress six terms, starting in 1985 and retiring in 1997. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal and General Government (TPS) of Appropriations, he had jurisdiction over 40% of Federal Law Enforcement (Customs, Secret Service, ATF, FLETC, and IRS enforcement).
Have you ever felt as if you were very blessed? I know some folks might say “lucky” instead of blessed, but I don’t believe in luck. Things happen for a reason. A reason that only God knows.
I was blessed to have taken my first breath in the Florence Crittenden Home for Unwed Mothers in Sioux City, Iowa almost exactly one year before the outbreak of World War II.
My birth mother thought my life was just as important as hers. At the age of 19, she knew she was not in a position to raise a child. That left her two choices: have me aborted or put me up for adoption. She chose the latter, rather than going through life carrying the load of two bad choices and mistakes.
A wonderful farm couple who were unable to have children gave me a fantastic home and upbringing. Luck? I don’t think so.
