Description
Scarlett Lewis experienced every parent’s worst nightmare — the murder of her six-year-old son. Jesse Lewis was the courageous boy who saved the lives of nine of his classmates in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in 2012, one of the worst mass shootings in U.S history. When the shooter’s gun jammed, he yelled, “Run,” and by his courageous act he saved the lives of his classmates while losing his own. After his death, when Scarlett returned to their family home to retrieve his clothes for his funeral she noticed a message Jesse wrote earlier on their kitchen chalkboard in her precious son’s childlike vernacular: “Nurturing Healing Love.” Those prophetic words offered Scarlett a way to move forward and help others by teaching the world about love, connection, and belonging, the universal wants and needs that connect all of humanity. Scarlett chose to honor Jesse’s bravery and guided by her son’s wise words founded the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement™, a nonprofit organization that is building cultures of love, resilience, and forgiveness into our communities and the world, strengthening humanity, and making the world a safer, more peaceful and loving place.
This all-encompassing book details how Scarlett’s journey as one voice asking people to replace an angry thought with a loving one and to thoughtfully respond with love in any situation became a global movement that continues to expand every year. Scarlett identifies the escalating issues in our schools that translate into our society, including bullying, violence, substance abuse, trauma, suicide, and loneliness, and shares how the programming of the Choose Love Movement is helping to reduce and prevent the pain and suffering before it starts by addressing the cause. The book explains the need for essential life skills, tools, and attitudes to improve and enhance the lives of children and adults everywhere. It explains the neuroscience behind the Choose Love Formula (Courage + Gratitude + Forgiveness + Compassion-in-Action = Choosing Love) and how to live life using each character value. Also, the book includes how three states had the courage to fully embrace Choose Love and successfully implement its programming; life-changing stories of people who have been personally impacted by the Choose Love Movement, including a young man on the brink of suicide and prisoners who had no hope or direction; and Scarlett’s personal commentary on the far-reaching impact of her son’s words to bring everyone to a place of nurturing healing love.
