Son's last message inspires Newtown mother

By George Colli, NBCConnecticut.com 

 

"Nurturing. Healing. Love."

Scarlett Lewis noticed the chalk-written message on her kitchen chalkboard when returning home for the first time – days after her son Jesse was taken from her on Dec. 14. 

“It was in 6-year-old handwriting. Right about where he’d be standing,” says Lewis from her Sandy Hook, Conn., farmhouse. “It’s phonetically spelled. It's very clear what it says. I was stunned.”

Lewis described her son as an “energetic, happy boy” whose personality could dominate a room. This type of message, however, was out of the ordinary for him but feels it was left for when she and her oldest son, J.T., would need it most.

“He isn’t the type of boy who would write that. He was loving and sweet and kind but that was a prophetic statement. I felt like it came from his spirit.”

It was this same message that the single mom sent while eulogizing her son. “I said, 

‘I have something for you to do for us. That’s to consciously change an angry thought into a loving one,’ because it is a choice.”

That is now the mission of the newly formed Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation. Lewis hopes it grows from the chalkboard to the pulpit to – one day – your child’s classroom. She is meeting with professional educators to create a school curriculum that will be taught nationwide.

“This will be taught right along math, reading and writing. It will be a life management course.”

Lewis was the first family member to speak at Wednesday’s Legislative Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety hearing held in Newtown, Conn. She says she is not looking to get involved in the political debate that has followed the shootings. Rather, she will focus on a message that can be supported on all sides of the discussion.

“I feel like he wrote that message for a reason and handed me a torch. I’m gonna take it and hopefully – with everyone's help – change the world so this will never happen again.”