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Speaker 1: Welcome to Katie's Crib, a production of Shonda Land Audio

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Speaker 1: in partnership with I Heart Radio. A special note on

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Speaker 1: this episode, we will be discussing the Sandy Hook Elementary

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Speaker 1: School shooting. This horrendous event involves children, gun violence, and

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Speaker 1: the loss of life, so please be aware of this

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Speaker 1: fact before continuing. Thank you. I'm walking Jesse out to

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Speaker 1: the end of the driveway where he's being picked up

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Speaker 1: by his dad who's going to take him to the school.

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Speaker 1: And I noticed that he had written in the frost

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Speaker 1: on the side of my car with his little fingernail,

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Speaker 1: I love you. So I ran inside, got my phone,

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Speaker 1: came back out. I remember taking him by his shoulders

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Speaker 1: and positioning him by the message so I could get

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Speaker 1: him and the message in the shot, and I gave

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Speaker 1: him a big hug, put him in the car, and

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Speaker 1: sent him off. That was the last time I saw him. Hello, everybody,

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Speaker 1: and welcome back to Katie's Crib. Back in February of

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Speaker 1: this year, I sat down with Scarlett Lewis, mother who

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Speaker 1: lost her son Jesse in the shooting at Sandy Hook

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Speaker 1: Elementary School in Jesse was one of twenty six innocent

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Speaker 1: lives murdered that day. At the time we recorded this interview,

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Speaker 1: I couldn't have imagined that just a few months later,

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Speaker 1: our nation would be facing the second deadly a school

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Speaker 1: shooting on record. Like many of you, my heart breaks

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Speaker 1: for the victims fatally shot in the massacre at rob

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Speaker 1: Elementary School in Yuvaldi, Texas. I'm mourned for their families

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Speaker 1: and for the students and faculty members present that day.

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Speaker 1: I'm also absolutely enraged knowing that this was preventable. In

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Speaker 1: this episode, you'll hear Scarlett Louis's story a mother who,

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Speaker 1: in the wake of tragedy, chose to dedicate her life

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Speaker 1: to be a part of the solution. Her resilience is

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Speaker 1: absolutely inspiring. Scarlett is the founder of the Choose Love Movement,

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Speaker 1: an organization inspired by Jesse Lewis his Final Acts of

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Speaker 1: Love at six years old, and Scarlett's own path of forgiveness.

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Speaker 1: She's the author of Nurturing Healing Love, a memoir of

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Speaker 1: her journey towards choosing love and forgiveness, as well as

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Speaker 1: From Sandy Hook to the World, an in depth look

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Speaker 1: at how Scarlett founded the Choose Love movement. The movements

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Speaker 1: Choose Love for Schools program is a no cost, comprehensive

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Speaker 1: lifespan next generation social and emotional learning and character development program,

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Speaker 1: empowering educators and students to choose love, to handle adversity,

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Speaker 1: and manage their emotions. Here's my conversation with Scarlett Lewis,

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Speaker 1: can you believe twenty twelve? I mean, is that nine years?

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Speaker 1: What are we act? Nine years ago? Nine years? Yes?

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it seems like a long time ago, and sometimes

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Speaker 1: it seems like yesterday. I'm sure. Can you start off

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Speaker 1: by telling us a little bit about Jesse. I would

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Speaker 1: love to yees Jesse. I like to introduce him by

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Speaker 1: saying he was born eleven pounds. That's wild, Yeah it was.

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Speaker 1: It was a lot of Ben and Jerry's Caramel Sutra

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Speaker 1: ice cream, but anyway, very big and he was a

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Speaker 1: C section. So the first time that I saw him,

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Speaker 1: I walked to the nursery and all of these nurses

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Speaker 1: were gathered around the window taking pictures. So I walked

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Speaker 1: up behind them and I said, what are you taking

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Speaker 1: pictures of? And they said, there is this enormous baby

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Speaker 1: and he is trying to crawl out of his bassinet.

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Speaker 1: So you know those clear plastic brass so he had

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Speaker 1: crawled all the way to the bottom. He was determined

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Speaker 1: to get out. Wow, at less than twenty four hours old.

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Speaker 1: We all know a lot of our listeners are either pregnant,

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Speaker 1: have little ones toddlers, and so they know the clear

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Speaker 1: hospital bassonet very well. But eleven pounds, Oh my god, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean, think about that next to a regular six

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Speaker 1: or seven pounds. That was really big baby. And and

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Speaker 1: really I tell that story because that's the way that

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Speaker 1: he was his entire life. He was larger than life.

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Speaker 1: He was loud, but he was fun and smiling and loving,

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Speaker 1: and he was just just really this huge light all

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Speaker 1: the time. I read. Also, he was very active. He

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Speaker 1: was like a goer, like had a lot of energy.

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Speaker 1: Reminds me so much of my son. Um. Who is

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Speaker 1: he named after? Somebody? Actually? Um, so, his brother's name

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Speaker 1: is j T And I wanted another j and Uh.

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Speaker 1: I was talking to my mom and we just thought

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Speaker 1: that Jesse McCord sounded like a cowboy name. It does.

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Speaker 1: I love it? Yeah, And Jesse is in our family tree,

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Speaker 1: so it's just fit. So I know you mentioned that

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Speaker 1: you have a vivid memory of Jesse riding on your car.

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Speaker 1: Actually the day that the school shooting happened with his

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Speaker 1: finger and he wrote I love you on the car.

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Speaker 1: Do you have any other favorite memories of the two

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Speaker 1: of you together or any funny ones? Oh gosh, lots

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Speaker 1: lots and lots of memories. I mean maybe maybe my

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Speaker 1: favorite memory and my favorite times with him were early

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Speaker 1: in the morning and going to bed. But in the morning,

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Speaker 1: I would get up early. I was a single mom,

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Speaker 1: so I would be fixing myself coffee and just sitting

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Speaker 1: down to have that one cup of coffee first thing

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Speaker 1: in the morning before the boys got up, and he

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Speaker 1: would come in all sleepy with this blanket and he

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Speaker 1: would kind of paddle over and he'd straddle me in

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Speaker 1: my lap and just just nestle in and we would

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Speaker 1: just have those few minutes in the morning of just

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Speaker 1: cuddling and snuggling, and uh, I just I just knew

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Speaker 1: that those were life's moments, those were those were the

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Speaker 1: best of the best. Yeah, if you're comfortable, can you

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Speaker 1: talk to us about what happened that day for you? Absolutely?

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Speaker 1: Uh so? Um, as you said, you know, I'm I'm

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Speaker 1: walking Jesse out to the end of the driveway where

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Speaker 1: he's being picked up by his dad, who's going to

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Speaker 1: take him to the school. And I turned around to

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Speaker 1: give him a hug, and I noticed that he had

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Speaker 1: written in the frost on the side of my car

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Speaker 1: with his little fingernail. Remember this is Connecticut on December

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Speaker 1: cold I love you, and he had drawn hearts in

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Speaker 1: all of my windows. Was and I just I knew

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Speaker 1: that that was one of life's moments. And despite the

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Speaker 1: fact that I was running late and I had to

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Speaker 1: get to work and his dad was there ready to

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Speaker 1: pick him up, I said, don't go anywhere. I ran inside,

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Speaker 1: I got my phone. Yes, I mean, I practiced being

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Speaker 1: present with my boys. I was. I was a single mom.

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Speaker 1: I remember the day that I realized I spent more

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Speaker 1: time at work than I did with my boys during

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Speaker 1: the week. I literally came home that day, unplugged my

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Speaker 1: TV and took it to Goodwill on my way to

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Speaker 1: work the next morning, and I practice being present. We

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Speaker 1: played games, we read thankfully it was before screens, and

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Speaker 1: we just really enjoyed each other. We laughed. We live

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Speaker 1: on a farm, so we were out with our animals,

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Speaker 1: playing outside, getting dirt under our fingernails, which I always

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Speaker 1: wanted my boys to do. So we have a lot

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Speaker 1: of fun and uh and so I credit that practice

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Speaker 1: with realizing this is this is one of life's moments.

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Speaker 1: So I ran inside, got my phone, came back out.

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Speaker 1: I remember taking him by his shoulders and positioning him

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Speaker 1: by the message so I could get him and the

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Speaker 1: message in the shot. I took a picture. I remember

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Speaker 1: looking at it. It was overexposed. I deleted it. I

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Speaker 1: took another one, still overexposed, and then I took a

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Speaker 1: real close up of I love you know that that

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Speaker 1: was in the frost. It would have been gone within

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Speaker 1: fifteen minutes. I gave him a big hug, put him

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Speaker 1: in the car, and sent him off. That was the

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Speaker 1: last time I saw him. After sending Jesse off, I

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Speaker 1: got in my car, I drove my forty five minutes commute,

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Speaker 1: got to the office, was getting settled in, and I

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Speaker 1: had a coworker that was at home watching the news

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Speaker 1: and she instant messaged me via this them that we

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Speaker 1: had at work and said, there's been a shooting in

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Speaker 1: Sandy Hook and you know, nothing like that ever happens

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Speaker 1: to just normal people, and and and so I thought,

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Speaker 1: oh that's terrible. You know, I wonder what the circumstances

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Speaker 1: are and just kind of kept going on my way.

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Speaker 1: And then I had people coming up to my desk,

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Speaker 1: you know that it was at a school, and still

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Speaker 1: I thought terrible, Um, but it would never occur to you,

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Speaker 1: your school or your children, like, yeah, you're just never never.

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Speaker 1: And then uh, you know, I think we we realized

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Speaker 1: it was Sandy Hook Elementary School. And then somebody said,

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Speaker 1: I think a teacher got shot in the foot, and

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Speaker 1: immediately I thought jealous boyfriend or you know, marital domestic dispute,

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Speaker 1: of course, of course, right, And so I got in

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Speaker 1: my car. I told my boss, I have to leave

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Speaker 1: gotten my car. I'm driving there, and I've got friends

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Speaker 1: calling me on the cell phone giving me updates. I'm

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Speaker 1: talking to his dad, who is further away than I am.

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Speaker 1: So I said, it's all right, I'm I'm gonna be

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Speaker 1: there in this amount of minutes. I'll pick him up.

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Speaker 1: I'll let you know, you know, when I have him

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Speaker 1: in the car. Uh. And I really wasn't. I really

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Speaker 1: wasn't all that concerned until I pulled up onto the

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Speaker 1: street of the elementary school and there were first responders everywhere. Uh,

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Speaker 1: like seemingly the military was there, there were helicopters, there

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Speaker 1: was you know, every ambulance looked like from the state,

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Speaker 1: and cars were lining the road on both sides, and

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Speaker 1: I had to park really far away, and you know,

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Speaker 1: it took me forty five minutes to get there. And

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Speaker 1: so a lot of parents had already been there and

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Speaker 1: then reunited with their kids and they were walking them

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Speaker 1: to the car. And so I got out of my

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Speaker 1: car and I started to run. Um, I don't know,

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Speaker 1: it seems like it was a quarter of a mile.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how far away a part. But I

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Speaker 1: saw the first official person in a uniform, and I said,

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Speaker 1: looking for Jesse Lewis and uh. He was the father

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Speaker 1: of one of Jesse's older brother's friends, so he knew me.

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Speaker 1: And he said, hey, look, go into the back room

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Speaker 1: and put his you know, if you can't find him,

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Speaker 1: put his name down on the list of missing people.

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Speaker 1: And I remember thinking, I'm not putting his name downs people. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm going to find him and bring him home.

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Speaker 1: And so I'm I'm kind of looking around, I'm asking people,

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Speaker 1: I'm watching tearful reunions and people leaving. Then somebody said,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I think that he went to the

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Speaker 1: house on the left of the firehouse. So so we

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Speaker 1: were supposed to congregate at the firehouse, be reunited, and

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Speaker 1: then take kids. The firehouse was at the end of

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Speaker 1: the cul de sac where the school was, and so

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Speaker 1: there was a little yellow house on the left of

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Speaker 1: the firehouse, and so someone said, I think that he

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Speaker 1: and his classmates went there. So so by this time,

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Speaker 1: Neil is getting closer and he's texting with me, and

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Speaker 1: I'm texting him and going, I'm going to the yellow

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Speaker 1: house on the left side. Why don't you look at

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Speaker 1: the daycare on the right side. So I knocked on

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Speaker 1: the door and someone answered, I said, is Jesse lewis here?

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Speaker 1: They he said, I think that he was, but I

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Speaker 1: think that they went to the daycare. So that I'm

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Speaker 1: telling you look at you know, you're on this goose chap,

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Speaker 1: you're on this. I'm like, all right, well, then I'm

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Speaker 1: going up to the school. You go to the hospital.

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Speaker 1: At this point, like it's been a little while and

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Speaker 1: nobody knows anything, nobody's saying anything. So I I'm like,

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Speaker 1: this is ridiculous. I'm gonna go up to the school.

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Speaker 1: Now it had barricades and it literally had military men

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Speaker 1: with a K forty seven's guarding it, you know. So

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Speaker 1: I walk up to one and I'm like, I'm going.

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Speaker 1: You know, I don't know where my son is and

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Speaker 1: I'm going into the school to find him. And he said, no,

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Speaker 1: you're not. You're not. I can't allow you to go

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Speaker 1: up there. And I'm like, well, you know, I'm a parent.

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Speaker 1: I am going to go. And I was determined, and

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Speaker 1: I'm nervous. But but now we're being told there were

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Speaker 1: there were a bunch of parents, and it's it's always like,

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Speaker 1: go into that back room and put his name down

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Speaker 1: on that list, and I'm just I just don't want

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Speaker 1: his name on the list. I don't even know why.

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Speaker 1: I just want to find him. And finally, finally I

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Speaker 1: go into that back room and there's this loose leaf

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Speaker 1: sheet of paper and it's the list is so long

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Speaker 1: of missing people. I turn it over, I write his

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Speaker 1: name on the back. Never in a million years did

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Speaker 1: I think that those people were dead. I just didn't.

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm there somebody had gotten pizzas. I mean, to me,

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Speaker 1: this was just so absurd, and they were saying, why

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Speaker 1: everybody have some pizza. So I'm like, I'm not having pizza.

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Speaker 1: I'm finding my son, you know. So I'm trying to

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Speaker 1: look for his teacher or anybody that knew him. And

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Speaker 1: there was this room full of teachers, Um that we're

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Speaker 1: eating pizza. It was just like so weird to me, right,

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Speaker 1: And I said, have you guys seen Jesse? And they

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Speaker 1: all look at each other, you know, and they're all

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Speaker 1: like just shaking their heads or whatever. And I and

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Speaker 1: instead of like getting it, I was so annoyed. I

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Speaker 1: was like, why isn't anybody saying anything? And so, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, the first responders would would tell us, you know,

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Speaker 1: we're still searching the buildings, and that made sense to me.

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Speaker 1: I thought, you know what, I literally thought, Jesse took

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Speaker 1: a small contingent of kids out into the woods. They

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Speaker 1: said they're searching the woods around the school. I said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: he probably to go small contingent of kids out. That's

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Speaker 1: just Jesse, and it's going to take them a while

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Speaker 1: to find them. They said they were looking for them

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Speaker 1: in the school. Um. Meanwhile, now we know they were

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Speaker 1: just trying to identify the bodies. But they didn't tell us.

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Speaker 1: That was it a long amount of time until the

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Speaker 1: pieces all fit together. Hours of waiting in that back room. No,

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't be and I would not stay in the

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Speaker 1: back room. I was the problem. So I just didn't

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Speaker 1: want to be in that room. So you were just taught.

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Speaker 1: You were like, give me answers, give me answers. You

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Speaker 1: were well, I was, but I was also waiting, and

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Speaker 1: so I wanted to be outside. By that time, my

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Speaker 1: mother lives in town, and my stepfather had come and

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Speaker 1: they had actually gotten Jesse's older brother, who had been

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Speaker 1: in lockdown in middle school, and uh, he came to

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Speaker 1: wait with us, and so we were all there, and

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Speaker 1: I just remember thinking, I have to have for right now,

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Speaker 1: for for j T for for you know, Jesse's older brother,

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Speaker 1: and and so we waited outside, but the police kept

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Speaker 1: us right outside and of the line of the media site.

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Speaker 1: So brought us chairs and we're just kind of sitting

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Speaker 1: there waiting, and then um, the first responders would come

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Speaker 1: and they would ask questions, trying to be nonchalant, do

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Speaker 1: you have any recent pictures of Jesse? And by that

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Speaker 1: time my phone was dead, and so I went into

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Speaker 1: a police car to charge the phone enough so that

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Speaker 1: I could show some pictures. Yeah, recent picture. And then

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Speaker 1: a little while later another one came up and said,

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Speaker 1: does Jesse have any identifying marks on his body? And

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Speaker 1: I was like, it's not a good question. But I

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Speaker 1: remembered his little mole on his I still can't remember

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Speaker 1: which foot left or right foot, top of the foot,

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Speaker 1: So I told them about that. And it was a

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Speaker 1: little while after that that they um that someone told

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Speaker 1: me that he was among the victims, and and and

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Speaker 1: the parents were told one by one and it was

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Speaker 1: just like it was almost like my my vision just

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Speaker 1: I had tunnel vision. I I know that there were

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Speaker 1: stuff going on around me after I was told, I

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Speaker 1: know that there are other parents being told, and they

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Speaker 1: were dropping to the ground and yelling. I just was

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Speaker 1: focused on what was right in front of me, and

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Speaker 1: that was Jesse's older brother. And by the time that

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Speaker 1: we were told my other I have a middle brother

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Speaker 1: who had come up from another town in Connecticut. I

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Speaker 1: had I have three brothers, and um, two of my

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Speaker 1: brothers had come and then uh after we were told

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Speaker 1: my youngest brother and his wife had come down from Boston.

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Speaker 1: And it didn't it wasn't even really real to me

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Speaker 1: until I watched my mom walk across us the parking

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Speaker 1: lot and tell my little brother, uh, what had happened.

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Speaker 1: And I watched him just fold over, and I thought,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, this is real, this is really happening.

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Speaker 1: I can't even believe this. And how did you get

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Speaker 1: the information that he had told his classmates to run away?

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Speaker 1: I'm sure story started to just unfold and unfold and

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Speaker 1: unfold in the day. It did not that day, not

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Speaker 1: that day, but very shortly after. UM, we had been

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Speaker 1: assigned a state trooper, and so he stayed with us

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Speaker 1: and he was getting information. He became part of our family, actually,

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Speaker 1: and he told us that the shooter had killed his

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Speaker 1: principle and guidance counselor UM that had had been meeting

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Speaker 1: with a parent in the first grade hallway and they

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Speaker 1: had come out of one of the rooms on the

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Speaker 1: right hand side of the hallway, right across from Jesse's classroom,

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Speaker 1: had killed them when they came into the hallway. Then

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Speaker 1: he had turned left into Jesse's classroom and uh most

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Speaker 1: likely killed his teacher. And then his gun ran out

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Speaker 1: of bullets, and so while he was changing his clip

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Speaker 1: that Jesse had saved. Had literally called to his friends

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Speaker 1: and directed them to run, and they said that it

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Speaker 1: was because Jesse told them to run that they ran.

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Speaker 1: And he's credited with saving nine class lives before before

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Speaker 1: the shooter reloaded and then killed everyone in that classroom

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Speaker 1: and then went to the next classroom, killed everyone and

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Speaker 1: that one before the police came. Uh, he heard the sirens,

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Speaker 1: came back into Jesse's classroom, and then killed himself. And

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry that's probably way too much in night. Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for sharing the story. I think a

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Speaker 1: lot of people who are listening um may or may

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Speaker 1: not know you know, probably obviously know the story, but

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Speaker 1: to hear all of the details, it's it's important that

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Speaker 1: we hear them, and you are heard, and the story

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Speaker 1: has never forgotten, and we hear it and we know it,

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Speaker 1: and we are helpful to your foundation to make sure

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Speaker 1: that we are changing and and making things like this

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Speaker 1: not happen. I think it's so important that that we

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Speaker 1: we hear the truth and that we don't forget it,

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Speaker 1: because it's only if we acknowledge that that we're able

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Speaker 1: to change it. That's exactly right, that's exactly or you're

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Speaker 1: very much like that won't happen to me or something

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Speaker 1: or that was someone else's story exactly. But it's like

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Speaker 1: our children, really, and so much of this podcast is

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Speaker 1: making people feel not alone. But also we keep coming

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Speaker 1: to this this theme, especially in this season's podcast, about

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Speaker 1: how all of our children are all of our children.

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Speaker 1: We can't just um take care of our own individual

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Speaker 1: children because it's not it's not helping. Things that we

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Speaker 1: want to change and things that we want to learn

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Speaker 1: from and grow from only happen when I put everyone

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Speaker 1: else's children and my like put them ahead of my children.

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Speaker 1: And this is the greater good, the collective. Um. We

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Speaker 1: are responsible for the safety, health and well being of

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Speaker 1: our children. And you know, I'll tell you what nine

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Speaker 1: years and one day I was, you know, just thinking

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Speaker 1: all I can do is raise my two boys to

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Speaker 1: the best of my ability, love them as much as

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Speaker 1: I can teach them, as much as I can, make

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Speaker 1: sure they get educated and they are productive members of society.

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Speaker 1: And then you know, my son is brutally murdered in

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Speaker 1: his first grade classroom, alongside nineteen first grade classmates and

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Speaker 1: six educators and one of the worst mass murders in

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Speaker 1: USA street. Let me tell you something to Sandy Hook

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Speaker 1: that doesn't happen there live on a farm. I mean

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Speaker 1: so so I realized and by the way, it took

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Speaker 1: that for me, and I will admit that, but I

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Speaker 1: realized then that what happened to Jesse is one hundred

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Speaker 1: percent preventable, and we it's going to take all of

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Speaker 1: us taking responsibility for what's happening to our kids in

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Speaker 1: order to be part of the solution. Yes, I can remember,

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Speaker 1: um Busy Phillips, who is an actress. Any Um, she's

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Speaker 1: a celebrity. She's been on this podcast before. But I

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Speaker 1: can remember we were singing at a cabaret together and

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Speaker 1: she had just she came in and she was so

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Speaker 1: flustered and so um upset, and I was asking her,

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Speaker 1: why are you upset? And she was like, oh my my,

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Speaker 1: you know, my five year old just had her first

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Speaker 1: shooter drill in her school and she was just crying

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Speaker 1: for the state of the world. Like just say like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, when I grew up, we were under our

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Speaker 1: desks for hurricanes or torn age. You know, she grew

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Speaker 1: up in Arizona. I guess it's a tornado. But she

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Speaker 1: was like, you know, we would practice that I we

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Speaker 1: didn't have to do that. I guess in the fifties

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Speaker 1: people went under their desks for missiles or bombs. But

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Speaker 1: this feels just so scary. I can't believe that this

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Speaker 1: is routine now active shooter drills and I want to

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Speaker 1: say most schools now, um, and that is clearly not enough.

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Speaker 1: Sandy Hook had just had an active shooter drill three

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Speaker 1: weeks before the tragedy. They had all of the hardening technology,

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Speaker 1: they had locked doors, they had alarms, they had everything

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Speaker 1: that was possible, and it did not stop the shooting.

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Speaker 1: We will be right back after a word from our sponsors.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Katie's crib. I obviously the losing Jesse

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Speaker 1: has drastically changed your life. Um. But what I think

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Speaker 1: is so remarkable about you is the work you're doing

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Speaker 1: is benefiting all of our children. Can you tell us

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Speaker 1: about your organization and how you started it? Yes, absolutely so.

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Speaker 1: My organization is Choose Love Movement dot org, and I

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Speaker 1: I wanted to obviously be part of the solution. I

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Speaker 1: did not want any parents have to go through what

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Speaker 1: I did and they don't have to, and so I

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Speaker 1: looked around. I started researching. I mean, what is the

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Speaker 1: solution to this, because what we are doing now clearly

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Speaker 1: isn't working. And doing the same thing over and over

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Speaker 1: uh and expecting a different result is somebody said, definition

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Speaker 1: of insanity, all right, right, insanity? So um, so I

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Speaker 1: really took a step back. I remember I practice being present,

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Speaker 1: and so I was. I was present at the firehouse,

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Speaker 1: I was present for the journey afterwards. And I saw

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Speaker 1: that there was a lot of polarization at that time.

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Speaker 1: You were either pro gun or anti gun. I saw

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Speaker 1: there was a lot of blame um headed towards uh

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Speaker 1: Adam Lanza, who was the recent graduate of the New

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Speaker 1: Town School system, as well as his mother, who had

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Speaker 1: provided him with the gun, and both obviously responsible and

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Speaker 1: a huge mistake. Um. But all of the blame was

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Speaker 1: being put on guns and also on Adam and his mom.

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Speaker 1: And I thought, wait a minute, that just didn't work

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Speaker 1: for me. Yes, responsible, but if it were really all

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Speaker 1: their fault, it would never have happened before, and it

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Speaker 1: had many times, and it would never happen again. And

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Speaker 1: while I can say now in the last nine years,

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Speaker 1: it's happened over three hundred and fifty times, over three

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty times, over three hundred and fifty school

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Speaker 1: shootings in the last nine years, over fifty last year

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Speaker 1: along my god, and so I thought, wait a minute, well,

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Speaker 1: all of those aren't Adam Landsas for in one right,

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Speaker 1: So so who do we blame? Whose responsibility is this?

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Speaker 1: And the only thing that I could do, since no

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Speaker 1: one else was raising their hand, was to say, I'm

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Speaker 1: going to take my part of the responsibility so that

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Speaker 1: I can be part of the solution. And I know

428
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,680
Speaker 1: what we're doing now isn't working. It's not working for bullying,

429
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,880
Speaker 1: it's not working for substance abuse, it's not working for

430
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: mental health of being, I mean suicide, depression, anxiety. Um so,

431
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: so what is the solution? And I started researching and

432
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:08,200
Speaker 1: I and I got a huge directional push by my

433
00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:14,120
Speaker 1: son Jesse when I came home, uh actually to get

434
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,679
Speaker 1: his clothes for the funeral. Um. So it was a

435
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,000
Speaker 1: few days later I found a message that he had

436
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:23,879
Speaker 1: written on our kitchen chalkboard, and he had literally written

437
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:30,240
Speaker 1: three words nurturing, healing, love, and the words were phonetically

438
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:33,240
Speaker 1: spelled because he was in first grade and just learning

439
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:39,800
Speaker 1: to write. But I knew immediately that if Adam Lanza

440
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 1: had been able to give and receive nurturing, healing, love,

441
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:49,720
Speaker 1: the tragedy would never have happened. It's so simple, it

442
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:56,359
Speaker 1: seems ridiculous, but simple isn't always easy. So I took

443
00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:01,920
Speaker 1: that message and I met with a doctoral professor and uh,

444
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:05,919
Speaker 1: he he did some research. He said, those three words

445
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:11,040
Speaker 1: are in the definition of compassion across all cultures. And

446
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,000
Speaker 1: I said, well, how do I get these three words

447
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:18,919
Speaker 1: into schools? And he said, It's called essential life skills programming,

448
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:23,480
Speaker 1: and it's social and emotional learning learning, character development and

449
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,359
Speaker 1: money said, and neurosence and mindfulness and you know all

450
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:33,280
Speaker 1: of these things. And so I looked for programs. I

451
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 1: went to the curriculum director. I'm giving you a little

452
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 1: back and love it. Do it. I'm not interrupting you

453
00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:42,040
Speaker 1: because I'm on the edge of my seat. I'm like,

454
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,600
Speaker 1: tell me that this is literally the path that I took.

455
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: And I went to the curriculum director at Sandy Hook Breathless,

456
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,440
Speaker 1: and I said this, These essential life skills are like

457
00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:57,360
Speaker 1: how to have healthy relationships and meaningful connections, how to

458
00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 1: manage our emotions, how to face difficulty that happens in

459
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,600
Speaker 1: our lives and and learn from it. Grow through it,

460
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 1: be strengthened by it, how to make responsible decisions, like

461
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,520
Speaker 1: just such important stuff that we're not born with. We

462
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:17,920
Speaker 1: have to learn these skills and tools. And if you

463
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 1: look at Adam Lanza's life, he was bullied, he was isolated,

464
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,360
Speaker 1: riddled with anxiety, he had needs that were known that

465
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 1: weren't met. It was just like it was a disaster.

466
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 1: And I knew that if he had been taught these

467
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: skills and tools that he could have managed, because other

468
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:41,920
Speaker 1: kids have those things happened to them and they make

469
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 1: it through. Okay. So I went to the curriculum director

470
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 1: and I said, there's this, you know, there are these

471
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 1: such a life skills. Have you ever heard of them?

472
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,600
Speaker 1: And she's like, of course, And I said, well what happened?

473
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,080
Speaker 1: And she said, well, we spent so much money on

474
00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:00,440
Speaker 1: this program that we couldn't afford to train the teachers.

475
00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,280
Speaker 1: So we sent a small contingent out and they were

476
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,719
Speaker 1: supposed to come back and train the trainer and that

477
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: never happened. So the program never got out of the box.

478
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 1: And I literally that's literally branded in my brain because

479
00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:23,440
Speaker 1: I thought, okay, okay, I have to create a program

480
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:31,120
Speaker 1: that is comprehensive everything that educators deserve, no matter what

481
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 1: it costs. There's no right. We give them our most

482
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,000
Speaker 1: precious asset for the majority of the day. Now they're

483
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:41,040
Speaker 1: even facing this threat, but they show up for our

484
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,880
Speaker 1: kids and they you know, they teach them so much.

485
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:48,640
Speaker 1: Uh and and so I thought they deserve this. Obviously,

486
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:53,760
Speaker 1: our kids deserved the best of the best. So UM

487
00:30:53,800 --> 00:31:00,080
Speaker 1: I worked with doctoral professors and early childhood development specialists

488
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:07,800
Speaker 1: and educators, social workers, school counselors, um just mental health professionals.

489
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:15,479
Speaker 1: We together created this really comprehensive, incredible program that literally

490
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 1: still is the best of the best. And UM, for me,

491
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,680
Speaker 1: it had to be no cost because my son was

492
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:25,520
Speaker 1: priced out of the market. It would have saved my

493
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 1: son's life. And I know through research that this can

494
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 1: reduce and prevent so much of the suffering that we're seeing.

495
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,400
Speaker 1: I mean, if you think about, uh, you know where

496
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,960
Speaker 1: all of these things start, Like take loneliness for instance.

497
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:45,320
Speaker 1: I mean, we were having a loneliness super pandemic before

498
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:49,240
Speaker 1: the COVID pandemic, where over half of Americans were saying

499
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 1: that they were lonely. Eighteen to twenty four year olds

500
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 1: were saying they were lonelier than senior citizens. All of

501
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:59,040
Speaker 1: this research was done on the delectarious effects of loneliness.

502
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 1: Uh can cause inflammation in the body and ultimately lead

503
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 1: to heart attacks and kill you. And uh and and

504
00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 1: you know, if you think about where loneliness starts, it

505
00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,880
Speaker 1: starts with a thought, and a thought can be changed.

506
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: And when I was at Jesse's funeral, I got up

507
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,880
Speaker 1: to speak and I everybody was saying what can we do?

508
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 1: And I said, you know, this whole tragedy started with

509
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:30,120
Speaker 1: an angry thought in Adam Lanza's head. And an angry

510
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:34,000
Speaker 1: thought can be changed. That's something that we can control

511
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,120
Speaker 1: in our lives. So I asked everybody on that day

512
00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:38,800
Speaker 1: to start thinking about what they think about, to change

513
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:43,200
Speaker 1: one angry thought into a loving thought. Already you started

514
00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:47,280
Speaker 1: thinking that way on like that. Soon I did, and

515
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 1: so so impressed and inspired by you. After that, all

516
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:57,600
Speaker 1: I could focus on was how do we fix this?

517
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,600
Speaker 1: Because you can't have have a six year old have

518
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 1: to stand up to a maniacal shooter in his first

519
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,880
Speaker 1: grade classroom and have to act like a war hero.

520
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 1: Jesse was given a Commander in chief funeral because reserved

521
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,719
Speaker 1: for heads of state and returning war heroes. He was

522
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 1: considered one because his first grade classroom was a literal

523
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 1: war zone. That is not going to have in a

524
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 1: country where I live. And so I have been literally

525
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 1: like literally when I saw that message of nurturing, healing love,

526
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:36,680
Speaker 1: I knew that that was Jesse handing me my mission

527
00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 1: in life. When did you actually start the organization? When

528
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:47,920
Speaker 1: did it actually start to materialize into like, Okay, this

529
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 1: is an organization. We are taking this into schools within

530
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:56,680
Speaker 1: a month. Holy mackerel, Landy, Wow, can you give us

531
00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:02,640
Speaker 1: a couple examples um of like social emotional learning strategies

532
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,960
Speaker 1: that listeners could use that you picked up on, or

533
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 1: things that are in the school program. Oh my gosh. Absolutely.

534
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:15,640
Speaker 1: In fact, I will give all of your listeners are

535
00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:22,280
Speaker 1: powerful formula, Yes, yeah, absolutely, that will that will help

536
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,399
Speaker 1: them they can use in their own life. I mean,

537
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 1: teachers say that they use this as much as the kids.

538
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:32,279
Speaker 1: And by the way, we have a parent program that

539
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:35,440
Speaker 1: all of your listeners are welcome to go on and download.

540
00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:40,120
Speaker 1: This is amazing. Hey, I've wrapped a bus, it's the

541
00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:43,440
Speaker 1: Choose Love bus, and during COVID I've taken this out

542
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:48,040
Speaker 1: to the kids and the educators themselves. I'm I'm serious

543
00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:54,320
Speaker 1: about this, But the formula is very simple. It starts

544
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:59,640
Speaker 1: with courage, and uh, courage science tells us is like

545
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 1: a hustle. We can actually do things to help build

546
00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: our courage, and courage is the most important character value.

547
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,719
Speaker 1: We need courage in so many ways every day, all

548
00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:14,480
Speaker 1: day long, even when it's getting up in the morning

549
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 1: and having the courage to put our best foot forward

550
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,680
Speaker 1: when we don't feel like it. And so a few

551
00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:23,719
Speaker 1: ways that we teach courage. One is brave breath. It's

552
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,239
Speaker 1: putting your right hand on your heart, your left hand

553
00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:29,520
Speaker 1: on your belly. It's breathing in through your nose for four,

554
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 1: holding that for four and then breathing out for four.

555
00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:39,920
Speaker 1: That helps relax you. It helps you to be able

556
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,560
Speaker 1: to get into the present moment. I've been talking about

557
00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:48,759
Speaker 1: the present moment. The present moment is where life is happening. Um,

558
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:50,840
Speaker 1: A lot of us are usually in the past, or

559
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:55,000
Speaker 1: in the future, or on our phones. Every time we're

560
00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:58,719
Speaker 1: on our phone, we are living somebody else's life, not

561
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 1: our own. And uh, it's it's imperative that we know

562
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:06,120
Speaker 1: about the present moment so that we can get in

563
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:12,759
Speaker 1: between what is happening to us and our response and

564
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 1: have a thoughtful response so that we can return our

565
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:23,799
Speaker 1: locus of control, that's location of our control back to ourselves,

566
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:28,120
Speaker 1: because when we feel like we don't have control, doesn't

567
00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:31,839
Speaker 1: feel good right that things happen to us, we find

568
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:39,040
Speaker 1: ourselves blaming, fingershuring, thing all funding, victiming, yes, which can

569
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:43,600
Speaker 1: lead to anger. And so this formula and I just

570
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,759
Speaker 1: gave you the first character value is courage, specifically designed

571
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:52,120
Speaker 1: to give us our personal power back so that we

572
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:56,320
Speaker 1: can be in control, we can make things happen, uh,

573
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,839
Speaker 1: and we can be personally responsible for our lives. So

574
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:04,879
Speaker 1: the first is courage, and then it goes. It goes

575
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 1: based on Jesse's message. Actually, so nurturing in Jesse's message

576
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 1: um literally means loving, kindness and gratitude. So then gratitude

577
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,280
Speaker 1: is next. And by the way, this is in order

578
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 1: because it takes courage to be grateful when things aren't

579
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 1: going your way. And that you know, everyone's heard of gratitude,

580
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: but we use it in a really special way. So

581
00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:36,200
Speaker 1: we have tens of thousands of thoughts that go through

582
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:40,000
Speaker 1: our minds every single day, and and all of your

583
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,880
Speaker 1: listeners do to. And we know through the latest neuroscience

584
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 1: that the majority of our thoughts are negative, that's between

585
00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:54,800
Speaker 1: s and then over nine percent of our thoughts are repetitive.

586
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:57,920
Speaker 1: So it's those same negative thoughts over and over and

587
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:01,040
Speaker 1: over again. Uh so the of you out there with this,

588
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:05,160
Speaker 1: you are not alone. Our brain has a negative bias.

589
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:08,840
Speaker 1: It wants to keep us safe. Neuroscience tells us that

590
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:13,040
Speaker 1: our brains are like velcro to negativity and like teflon

591
00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:17,320
Speaker 1: to positivity. So so just having that self awareness alone

592
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:21,600
Speaker 1: is really important. And then we use gratitude as a

593
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:26,160
Speaker 1: tool because you can only have one thought at a time.

594
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 1: This is really cool. You'll never forget this. I love

595
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:33,720
Speaker 1: telling kids this. You can only focus on one thought

596
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:40,240
Speaker 1: at a time. So, in other words, when you're having angry, frustrated, resentful,

597
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:44,200
Speaker 1: lower energy thoughts and you're ready to shift away, there's

598
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:47,800
Speaker 1: there's no judgment on anything that anyone is feeling because

599
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:51,760
Speaker 1: they're telling us something even anger. But when you're ready

600
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:54,360
Speaker 1: to shift away, you know if you have prolonged anger,

601
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 1: that is not good for you. So you can literally

602
00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 1: shift the focus of your lens to gratitude by thinking

603
00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:04,400
Speaker 1: of something that you're grateful for, and there is always

604
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:08,920
Speaker 1: something to be grateful for. However, it might take courage

605
00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 1: if things aren't going your way, but there's there's always

606
00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:13,680
Speaker 1: something to be grateful for. And even in those early

607
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:17,120
Speaker 1: days after losing Jesse, you know I had I had

608
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:19,759
Speaker 1: a lot to be grateful for. And also to have

609
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,480
Speaker 1: to show up for your other son, I can't imagine,

610
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:26,680
Speaker 1: you know, to to be there and be the mom

611
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:30,839
Speaker 1: and the bedrock of the family for JT. That is

612
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:37,239
Speaker 1: just from the time at the firehouse, because he was

613
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:42,400
Speaker 1: there with me, watching me, listening to every word that

614
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:50,400
Speaker 1: I said, intently analyzing every facial expression, gesticulation, even my energy.

615
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:54,200
Speaker 1: And I knew even on that day that I was

616
00:39:54,480 --> 00:40:03,640
Speaker 1: modeling for him in the moment how to face handle challenges, roadblocks,

617
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 1: and maybe even tragedy for the rest of his life.

618
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:13,480
Speaker 1: I was teaching him in the moment. So that realization

619
00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:16,399
Speaker 1: helped me rise to the occasion and be the best

620
00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:19,840
Speaker 1: version of myself. And I try to always be aware

621
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:23,080
Speaker 1: of that because I know that I am modeling that

622
00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:27,279
Speaker 1: for him still and uh and so gratitude into the

623
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:31,880
Speaker 1: second one, then healing. Go back to Jesse's message of nurturing, healing.

624
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:36,279
Speaker 1: Healing literally means forgiveness, and forgiveness is was one of

625
00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:42,520
Speaker 1: the biggest tools that I used in order to survive

626
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:49,960
Speaker 1: and thrive. Forgiveness is so so powerful. I forgave Adam,

627
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:53,680
Speaker 1: for sure, I forgave his mom. In fact, I felt

628
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:58,440
Speaker 1: compassion for them because I found out about Adam's life

629
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:03,440
Speaker 1: and I was a single mom too, struggling to get

630
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:06,799
Speaker 1: my boys everything that they needed, and and I knew

631
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:09,839
Speaker 1: that she was alone in this process trying to do that.

632
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 1: I knew that that yes, they were responsible, but I

633
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,719
Speaker 1: also knew that that there were other people that were

634
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:22,400
Speaker 1: responsible to for what happened, and uh and I and

635
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:25,200
Speaker 1: I felt compassion for him. He had suffered. We know

636
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,480
Speaker 1: that hurt people hurt people, so I knew that somebody

637
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 1: that could do something so heinous must have been in

638
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,120
Speaker 1: a tremendous amount of pain, and it turned out that

639
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:39,799
Speaker 1: he was. And and so forgiveness was really really important

640
00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:44,359
Speaker 1: for my journey. But it's so important for everybody to understand.

641
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 1: And it was interesting because we knew that we wanted

642
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 1: to start in schools and people said, you can't teach

643
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:55,439
Speaker 1: kids forgiveness because it's a really complicated, difficult type thing,

644
00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:59,080
Speaker 1: and I and and it turns out that kids love forgiveness.

645
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:01,279
Speaker 1: Out of all the aracter values that we teach in

646
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:05,319
Speaker 1: the formula, forgiveness is their favorite. It doesn't matter how

647
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:08,920
Speaker 1: old they are, k through twelve. It is incredible. They

648
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:11,759
Speaker 1: think it's a superpower. They say, it feels so good

649
00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:15,399
Speaker 1: to let it go. Turns out us big kids don't

650
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:18,880
Speaker 1: really understand it. Some of us still think it's a

651
00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:22,680
Speaker 1: gift that we're giving somebody that hurt us, who doesn't

652
00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:25,759
Speaker 1: deserve it, when in reality, when you look at the

653
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 1: decades of research behind the benefits of forgiveness for the

654
00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:34,799
Speaker 1: one who forgives, it's the gift of freedom. I was

655
00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:38,960
Speaker 1: not going to be another victim of Adam Lanza. I

656
00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:43,520
Speaker 1: was not going to give him power and control over

657
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:46,719
Speaker 1: my thoughts that impact how I feel That then was

658
00:42:46,719 --> 00:42:48,839
Speaker 1: going to impact how I showed up for my son

659
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:52,840
Speaker 1: and my other relationships. Absolutely not. But the only way

660
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:55,560
Speaker 1: that I could take my personal power back was cutting

661
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,920
Speaker 1: that cord that attached me to pain. And the only

662
00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:02,320
Speaker 1: way that I knew to who it was through forgiveness.

663
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:11,520
Speaker 1: Forgiveness amazing, so courage, gratitude, forgiveness, into into nurturing, healing love,

664
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:17,920
Speaker 1: and love is compassion in action. So compassion as two components.

665
00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:22,239
Speaker 1: There is the identification component when you identify the need

666
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:26,560
Speaker 1: of another, and then the action component when you actively

667
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,759
Speaker 1: do something to help ease that need or pain. It

668
00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 1: takes courage to forgive when the person who hurt you

669
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 1: isn't sorry, doesn't care, it doesn't know. It takes courage

670
00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:42,200
Speaker 1: to step outside of your own distraction and business, and

671
00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:45,719
Speaker 1: sometimes even pain and suffering to help somebody else. But

672
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,879
Speaker 1: what I have learned through my experience, and I've also

673
00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:53,600
Speaker 1: watched Jesse's older brother learn as well, is that all

674
00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:56,560
Speaker 1: of the nurturing, healing love we give to other people,

675
00:43:56,640 --> 00:44:00,520
Speaker 1: all of the love and service that we do, we get.

676
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:07,120
Speaker 1: Absolutely I could not agree more. Educators also say that

677
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:11,120
Speaker 1: it reminds them why they became educators. Their favorite thing

678
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:16,440
Speaker 1: about teaching Choose Love is that they use it for us,

679
00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:18,840
Speaker 1: for me, and for our listeners. How can we help?

680
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:21,680
Speaker 1: What can we do to get involved? How can we

681
00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:26,280
Speaker 1: jump on board the Choose Love bus and um help

682
00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 1: these numbers go down? Like I don't I don't want

683
00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:35,920
Speaker 1: to hear fifty. I don't want that right, So so

684
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 1: if if you literally look at homeland securities pathway to violence,

685
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,719
Speaker 1: it's a it's a chart, and it starts with a

686
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:48,360
Speaker 1: grievance and then it escalates stair steps up, different steps

687
00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:52,520
Speaker 1: to an attack and at the attack end is the

688
00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:56,520
Speaker 1: hardening of schools. And I am all about hardening unfortunately

689
00:44:56,560 --> 00:44:59,920
Speaker 1: because this is going on now. But what we realize

690
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:04,080
Speaker 1: is just as important, if not maybe more important, is

691
00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:08,240
Speaker 1: the culture of the school. When you have a connected, loving,

692
00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 1: compassionate culture that can reduce and prevent a grievance from

693
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:16,960
Speaker 1: even happening. And if one does, you've got educators and

694
00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,880
Speaker 1: students having the skills and tools they need to manage

695
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:25,440
Speaker 1: that grievance before it escalates. So this is so important,

696
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:29,319
Speaker 1: uh and and all schools know that they need it now.

697
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:33,280
Speaker 1: So the amazing thing is, in the last six years

698
00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:37,840
Speaker 1: since we've released this program, by word of mouth, it

699
00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:42,200
Speaker 1: has over ten thousand, five hundred schools in every state

700
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:46,160
Speaker 1: and a hundred and twenty countries. That word of mouth

701
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:48,919
Speaker 1: mostly from those who have taught it, who have been,

702
00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:52,200
Speaker 1: you know, very happy with it and told their friends

703
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:57,160
Speaker 1: and parents. Um, I wish that I had known about

704
00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:00,799
Speaker 1: the importance of these essential life skills. When I was

705
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:03,880
Speaker 1: a parent, and I had gone to my school and

706
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:11,640
Speaker 1: made sure that they were implementing a comprehensive program. Most schools,

707
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:14,040
Speaker 1: if they don't have one, they're looking for one. I mean,

708
00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:17,440
Speaker 1: I assumed when when I when I created this program,

709
00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:20,960
Speaker 1: I literally was thinking in my mind gap filler, because

710
00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:24,360
Speaker 1: this is so vitally important. These are essential life skills

711
00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:27,680
Speaker 1: that emplawyers are looking for. Could have heard that these

712
00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:31,120
Speaker 1: are looking for. These are the skills that lead us

713
00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:34,520
Speaker 1: to flourishing. There a pathway to flourishing. So I thought

714
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:36,839
Speaker 1: that everyone would have them. And it turns out less

715
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:41,720
Speaker 1: than ten percent of US schools had a program. And

716
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:44,320
Speaker 1: and and those some of those that did were checking

717
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:47,520
Speaker 1: off the box with a with a workshop, a speaker

718
00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:50,680
Speaker 1: that come that would come in, or a week long kindness.

719
00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:56,719
Speaker 1: That's not enough. A school needs to embrace uh this

720
00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:00,520
Speaker 1: and and the amazing thing is when they do. There's

721
00:47:00,719 --> 00:47:04,200
Speaker 1: long term research that shows that that kids get better

722
00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:07,680
Speaker 1: grades and test scores, They have higher attendance, higher graduation rates,

723
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:11,920
Speaker 1: less stress and anxiety, not to mention, secure relationships, confidence

724
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:16,560
Speaker 1: within themselves, better relationships, better self esteem. It's a statistically

725
00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:19,239
Speaker 1: effective way to reduce and prevent bulling, and then later

726
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:23,240
Speaker 1: in life they have less substance abuse, less mental illness,

727
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:27,640
Speaker 1: less incarceration, And then I joke, less divorce rates. And

728
00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:29,239
Speaker 1: then I raised my hands. I see I could have

729
00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:33,919
Speaker 1: benefited because because I will readily admit I did not

730
00:47:34,080 --> 00:47:37,680
Speaker 1: have a lot of these skills and tools for I didn't.

731
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,719
Speaker 1: We will be right back after a word from our sponsors.

732
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:55,319
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Katie's crib. Outside of Choose Love, are

733
00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:59,200
Speaker 1: there um any family traditions you have to this day

734
00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:05,080
Speaker 1: to honor Jesse. Uh Well, on the anniversary, we gather

735
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:08,120
Speaker 1: as a family and just a few close friends at

736
00:48:08,200 --> 00:48:13,800
Speaker 1: his grave site. This year, I went to his favorite deli.

737
00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:18,239
Speaker 1: So every morning, uh we would. I would drive him

738
00:48:18,239 --> 00:48:21,880
Speaker 1: to daycare and we would stop at this deli and

739
00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:26,279
Speaker 1: we would get a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. Um.

740
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:29,480
Speaker 1: He for some reason he didn't like bacon. He choked

741
00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:32,719
Speaker 1: on bacon, so he said, and this is his favorite thing.

742
00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:36,560
Speaker 1: And the good mother that I am, he had half

743
00:48:36,560 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 1: for breakfast and half for lunch. It was it was

744
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:43,080
Speaker 1: just that's what he wanted. So I was like, okay,

745
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:46,520
Speaker 1: it was so easy. So we we would stop there

746
00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:51,120
Speaker 1: every morning. And this little deli is now at the

747
00:48:51,239 --> 00:48:54,040
Speaker 1: base of where he is buried, which is weird. I

748
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:58,040
Speaker 1: can sit, I have a granite bench and and it

749
00:48:58,160 --> 00:49:02,720
Speaker 1: faces his tombstone, and I can smell the delicious smells

750
00:49:02,719 --> 00:49:05,279
Speaker 1: coming out of the deli, almost as a reminder of

751
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 1: that day. So so this year I literally went and

752
00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:13,000
Speaker 1: bought a sandwich, sausage, egg and cheese, and I brought

753
00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:16,200
Speaker 1: it to his grave site, which was right around the corner,

754
00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:19,040
Speaker 1: and I sat, I put one for him, and I

755
00:49:19,239 --> 00:49:23,120
Speaker 1: ate the other half. UM. A lot of times we UM.

756
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:28,799
Speaker 1: We've released balloons for him. UM, We've written him messages.

757
00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:32,520
Speaker 1: He's in everything. He's in everything that I do. Every

758
00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:37,719
Speaker 1: single day I continue to get really strong, beautiful messages

759
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:41,880
Speaker 1: from him to let me know that he's he's still

760
00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:47,200
Speaker 1: around and involved and loving me and his brother and UH,

761
00:49:47,280 --> 00:49:52,000
Speaker 1: and so that's always nice. What other advice do you

762
00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:58,840
Speaker 1: have for parents, UM whose family have gone through UM

763
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:02,200
Speaker 1: either I either same tragedy or just something very tragic.

764
00:50:02,719 --> 00:50:08,720
Speaker 1: During my research, I found this UM, this thing called

765
00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:14,160
Speaker 1: post traumatic growth. The vast majority of us actually grow

766
00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:18,560
Speaker 1: through difficult If you think about how we're shaped and molded,

767
00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:24,719
Speaker 1: it is often through hard times and and the feelings

768
00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:28,080
Speaker 1: that you're feeling right now. And I'm speaking to your audience.

769
00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:31,239
Speaker 1: If you're at the lowest of the low point, um,

770
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:36,480
Speaker 1: you're gonna move through them. You are no feeling less.

771
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:41,319
Speaker 1: I've been there, you know. I will tell you that.

772
00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:43,440
Speaker 1: A couple of days after the tragedy, I'm sitting on

773
00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:46,560
Speaker 1: my mom's couch and one of the social workers brought

774
00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:50,600
Speaker 1: in this parent that had lost a son as well,

775
00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:53,160
Speaker 1: and I hadn't spoken to anybody that had lost a child.

776
00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:55,399
Speaker 1: When she sat down at my knee, she put her

777
00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:58,279
Speaker 1: hand there and she said, I'm I want you to

778
00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:01,080
Speaker 1: know I have lost a child, so I know exactly

779
00:51:01,080 --> 00:51:03,719
Speaker 1: what you're feeling. And I remember I just looked at

780
00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:07,279
Speaker 1: her and, uh for guidance, like you know, what do

781
00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:10,000
Speaker 1: you How did you get through this? And she said,

782
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:13,080
Speaker 1: and I'm here to tell you that you will always

783
00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:16,719
Speaker 1: feel this pain, you will never get through it. And

784
00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:18,759
Speaker 1: I just but you know what, it turned out to

785
00:51:18,800 --> 00:51:20,920
Speaker 1: be a blessing because I put my hand up in

786
00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:23,680
Speaker 1: her face and I literally said, like in front of

787
00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:26,160
Speaker 1: her face, I said, stop, stop, I don't want to

788
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:30,600
Speaker 1: hear anymore because that's your experience and I am going

789
00:51:30,719 --> 00:51:33,879
Speaker 1: to forge my own path. This is gonna be my

790
00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:36,799
Speaker 1: own experience. And then I realized right then and there

791
00:51:37,239 --> 00:51:40,640
Speaker 1: that I wasn't going to go off of someone else's experience.

792
00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:42,960
Speaker 1: I was going to create my my own and it

793
00:51:43,080 --> 00:51:47,000
Speaker 1: was up to me. And I learned right then and there,

794
00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:49,480
Speaker 1: like I don't know, a few days after the tragedy,

795
00:51:49,480 --> 00:51:52,000
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, I'm in this and it's gonna

796
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:55,200
Speaker 1: be what I wanted to be. And I started thinking

797
00:51:55,200 --> 00:51:57,640
Speaker 1: about what I wanted it to be. I knew that

798
00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:01,680
Speaker 1: I had the model for my older son, JT years

799
00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:06,520
Speaker 1: old at the time. Wow, it sounds like JT has

800
00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:11,600
Speaker 1: been incredible with coping thanks to you. But I think

801
00:52:11,640 --> 00:52:13,360
Speaker 1: I was reading that you had said something like it

802
00:52:13,800 --> 00:52:15,960
Speaker 1: helped you to learn about what other people are going

803
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:18,960
Speaker 1: through that might be something similar like the Rwandan genocide,

804
00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:21,120
Speaker 1: which I've been to Rwanda and I've seen that. But

805
00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:27,279
Speaker 1: does it help you to know, um again that you're

806
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:30,440
Speaker 1: just not alone. I'm assuming we did have that incredible

807
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:35,799
Speaker 1: experience where orphan genocide survivors skyped with JT in his room.

808
00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:37,560
Speaker 1: He did not want to go back to school. I

809
00:52:37,600 --> 00:52:39,600
Speaker 1: didn't want him to go back to school. He doesn't

810
00:52:39,640 --> 00:52:42,320
Speaker 1: know this to this day, but I will never force

811
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:48,279
Speaker 1: him to go to school again. And they skype to him,

812
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:52,879
Speaker 1: and you know, these were people who have survived the horrible,

813
00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:59,760
Speaker 1: horrible atrocities as well, horrible like rwandas over one million

814
00:53:00,200 --> 00:53:04,400
Speaker 1: Tutsis were murdered by their neighboring Hutus in ninety days.

815
00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:09,040
Speaker 1: And these had been young kids. They'd seen their families murdered,

816
00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:12,200
Speaker 1: all of their their neighbors. They grew up in camps

817
00:53:12,680 --> 00:53:15,400
Speaker 1: and they said. The first thing they said to j T,

818
00:53:15,920 --> 00:53:19,279
Speaker 1: through an interpreter, was we heard about what happened to

819
00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:21,640
Speaker 1: your little brother all the way over here in Rwanda.

820
00:53:22,080 --> 00:53:24,000
Speaker 1: We want you to know that you're going to be

821
00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:29,920
Speaker 1: okay and you're going to feel joy again. And I listened.

822
00:53:30,120 --> 00:53:32,560
Speaker 1: I thought, Wow, these are people that have been through

823
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:37,239
Speaker 1: something worse than we have. They're telling us that we're

824
00:53:37,239 --> 00:53:40,200
Speaker 1: gonna be okay and feel joy again. I'm gonna listen.

825
00:53:40,760 --> 00:53:44,839
Speaker 1: And then they started talking a lot about forgiveness and

826
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:48,200
Speaker 1: a lot about gratitude, and of course they were practicing

827
00:53:48,280 --> 00:53:51,960
Speaker 1: compassion and action by by seeing a need and then

828
00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:55,680
Speaker 1: reaching out to them. And so later on that evening,

829
00:53:55,800 --> 00:53:58,200
Speaker 1: JT came into the living room and he said, I'm

830
00:53:58,239 --> 00:54:01,040
Speaker 1: going to school tomorrow and I said are and he

831
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:04,240
Speaker 1: said yeah. And I'll never forget this. He said, those

832
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:06,600
Speaker 1: kids reached out to me and love, and I'm going

833
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:08,320
Speaker 1: to reach back out to them and I'm going to

834
00:54:08,440 --> 00:54:12,799
Speaker 1: start raising money and I'm going to send them to university. Um.

835
00:54:12,880 --> 00:54:17,320
Speaker 1: So he literally went back and started orgnovation called Newtown

836
00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:20,280
Speaker 1: Helps Rwanda. I will always wear this band always, always

837
00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:25,200
Speaker 1: on my wrist. And he raised enough money to send

838
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:30,600
Speaker 1: two of those orphan genocide survivors to university. Holy smokes,

839
00:54:30,680 --> 00:54:35,360
Speaker 1: that's amazing. He skyped back with that same group. He

840
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:39,319
Speaker 1: announced to uh TO to a woman named Betty, and

841
00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:44,319
Speaker 1: I remember she collapsed. Oh this is so it was,

842
00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:53,400
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. How old is JT now? He's twenty one? Wow? Wow? Yeah.

843
00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:57,080
Speaker 1: A question, what would you ask Jesse if he were

844
00:54:57,120 --> 00:55:02,480
Speaker 1: here today? Um? Gosh, that is a good question. What

845
00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:05,120
Speaker 1: would I ask him? I would probably ask if he

846
00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:08,200
Speaker 1: were here today. I know that he started me on

847
00:55:08,239 --> 00:55:11,359
Speaker 1: this whole journey. I think I would probably ask him

848
00:55:11,600 --> 00:55:14,480
Speaker 1: if there was anything that I could be doing more?

849
00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:21,200
Speaker 1: Such a mom answer. It's so good, yeah, because you

850
00:55:21,200 --> 00:55:24,360
Speaker 1: know he he literally directed me on this path. The

851
00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:26,480
Speaker 1: other thing is though, he left a message for his

852
00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:29,560
Speaker 1: older brother too, and JT found it on his desk

853
00:55:29,600 --> 00:55:31,719
Speaker 1: all folded up, and it said have a lot of fun.

854
00:55:32,400 --> 00:55:37,680
Speaker 1: He did. Yeah, yeah, And that informs everything that we

855
00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:40,880
Speaker 1: do in the Choose Love Movement too, because fun and

856
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:46,200
Speaker 1: unstructured play is so vitally important to our children. And

857
00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:49,640
Speaker 1: and actually, I say to kids and us big kids,

858
00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:52,480
Speaker 1: because I consider myself a big kid. A lot of

859
00:55:52,520 --> 00:55:54,640
Speaker 1: this stuff is for all of us. It's not just

860
00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:57,440
Speaker 1: for kids, it's for us as well. It's it's for

861
00:55:57,520 --> 00:56:04,880
Speaker 1: all humans. Gosh, my goodness, Scarlet, I am so so

862
00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:10,759
Speaker 1: filled up from this episode and so um impressed by

863
00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:14,239
Speaker 1: you and by the Choose Love Movement. And I want

864
00:56:14,239 --> 00:56:17,000
Speaker 1: all of our listeners to please go check out again.

865
00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:21,520
Speaker 1: Can you tell us the website again? Please? Yeah, please

866
00:56:22,080 --> 00:56:25,160
Speaker 1: Choose Love Movement dot org. If you all would help

867
00:56:25,239 --> 00:56:29,160
Speaker 1: us spread the message on social media, go to your schools,

868
00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:34,080
Speaker 1: introduce this, uh, talk about it to your friends. Downloaded.

869
00:56:34,520 --> 00:56:38,680
Speaker 1: This is bringing everybody that practices Choose Love together across

870
00:56:38,719 --> 00:56:41,840
Speaker 1: the world. And um, it's just a lot of fun.

871
00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:44,640
Speaker 1: You know, we have one life to live. To be

872
00:56:44,840 --> 00:56:50,080
Speaker 1: present the way to live your life with the fewest regrets. UH,

873
00:56:50,320 --> 00:56:52,960
Speaker 1: moms and dads out there is to be present with

874
00:56:53,120 --> 00:56:58,160
Speaker 1: the ones that you love. Again, just so impressed and

875
00:56:58,200 --> 00:57:01,360
Speaker 1: inspired by you, and I'm so thankful for you for

876
00:57:01,400 --> 00:57:04,400
Speaker 1: coming on to Katie's Crib and taking time. Scarlett, Louis

877
00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:09,160
Speaker 1: and again everyone um the website will be linked will

878
00:57:09,160 --> 00:57:11,400
Speaker 1: be will be posting about that and also her books

879
00:57:11,480 --> 00:57:14,120
Speaker 1: Nurturing Healing Love, which is her memoir of her journey

880
00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:16,720
Speaker 1: towards choosing love and forgiveness, and then the book from

881
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:20,040
Speaker 1: Sandy Hook to the World, which is how you founded

882
00:57:20,160 --> 00:57:23,720
Speaker 1: the Choose Love movement. Again, Scarlett, thank you so so

883
00:57:23,720 --> 00:57:27,200
Speaker 1: so much for coming on Katie's Crib. Thank you Katie

884
00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:37,200
Speaker 1: so much. Thank you again Scarlett for coming onto the show.

885
00:57:37,280 --> 00:57:39,680
Speaker 1: And thank you all so much for listening to today's

886
00:57:39,720 --> 00:57:44,400
Speaker 1: episode of Katie's Crib. I appreciate you all tuning in

887
00:57:44,440 --> 00:57:49,840
Speaker 1: to this episode. I'm really grateful for this platform and

888
00:57:49,920 --> 00:57:54,280
Speaker 1: community where we can go through this together. Take care

889
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:56,480
Speaker 1: of yourself please, and I will talk to you more

890
00:57:56,520 --> 00:57:56,919
Speaker 1: next week.