How Love and Healing Arose
from the Tragedy of Sandy Hook
Educating the mind without educating the heart
is no education at all.
- Aristotle
August 14, 2022, update to this story:
After the mass murder of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones used his Infowars website and radio show to promote the lie that the Sandy Hook story was a “false flag operation” conducted by the government. He also claimed that the families of the murdered children were “crisis actors.” That lie led to numerous threats against those families.
Several families brought defamation lawsuits against him, and they have been successful in court. The latest was decided this week in Texas. Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, had sued Jones for the emotional distress and reputational damage caused by Jones’ false claims. The jury decided to order Jones to pay nearly $50 million dollars in compensatory and punitive damages.
That decision will be appealed, but Jesse’s parents will use whatever amount actually comes in to support the work of the Choose Love Foundation.
I continue to be inspired by Scarlett’s story:
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and shot and killed 26 people, including twenty children and six staff. Scarlett Lewis lost her son, Jesse, that day. Out of that unimaginable tragedy, she was inspired to create a program that has been changing the lives of students and educators world-wide.
When Scarlett returned home that evening, she saw that Jesse had written on the blackboard in their kitchen the words, “nurturing healing love.” As she tried to imagine how a 6-year-old boy could have come up with those words, she knew that they were a message for her. She realized that if Adam Lanza had been able to give and receive nurturing, healing love, her son would still be alive.
With the inspiration from Jesse’s words, Scarlett founded the Choose Love Foundation. She wanted to turn the tragedy of Sandy Hook into something that makes the world a better place, and she realized that the answer was to teach children how to live with love.
She became an advocate for character development and social and emotional learning (SEL), which teaches children how to manage their emotions, feel connected, and have healthy relationships. To develop a program, she contacted a doctoral professor, Dr. Chris Kukk, and a group of educators and child psychologists.
Dr. Kukk explained that social and emotional learning is helping children learn about what their emotions mean and how to handle them, and also awareness of what other people are feeling and thinking about. In the process, they learn to live with compassion.
When we think in a compassionate way, our bodies release a peptide hormone called oxytocin, which releases two neurotransmitters – dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine makes you feel high, and serotonin is calming. So, compassion makes us feel good, which supports the process of learning.
In 2013, Scarlett began The Choose Love Movement, which offers free social and emotional learning (SEL) to children and adults around the world.
The Choose Love Movement
The mission of The Choose Love Movement is to create safer schools and a safer world by teaching people how to use nurturing, healing love in any circumstance. Children who have healthy and positive relationships, who can manage their emotions, and who have learned how to love one another, are not going to want to harm each other.
The program teaches children and adults how to change an angry thought to a loving one, and to live a life filled with “Courage + Gratitude + Forgiveness + Compassion-in-Action.” These four values are easy to learn, and with practice, they strengthen the resilience of individuals and promote a safer, more peaceful and loving world.
Choose Love for Schools is a no cost education program for Pre-K through 12th grades, designed to create a safer, more connected school culture. The program teaches the foundational concepts and skills of social and emotional learning (SEL). The goal is to provide children with the knowledge, attitude, and skills they need to choose love in any situation. These abilities include:
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Understanding and managing emotions (self-awareness and self-management),
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Setting and achieving positive goals,
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Feeling and displaying empathy and compassion for others (social awareness),
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Establishing and maintaining positive relationships, and
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Making responsible decisions.
The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement™ began as a program for schools but has expanded into programs for home, for work, and for community. The no-cost programming is reaching over 3 million children in 10,500 schools in 120 countries.
Out of a horrendous tragedy, a world-wide movement arose that is changing the lives of millions of people and promoting a safer and more peaceful world.
To learn more about the program, visit:
The Choose Love Movement
To learn more about Scarlett Lewis, visit:
Nurturing, healing, love – The Choose Love Movement
Surviving Sandy Hook: Scarlett Lewis
