Scarlett Lewis, mother of Sandy Hook victim Jesse, shares her frustration with MSNBC anchor Katy Tur after the recent elementary school shooting in Uvaldi, Texas.
My reaction is too little too late. We need to have a plan. Every school shooting is preventable. The fact that I’m talking to you today, 10 years after Sandy Hook, 20 years after Columbine, and we’re still having the same narrative. We’re doing the same things over and over always a step behind. Is so frustrating.
We have been reactive out of fear and we need to address some of our resources , that time, energy, money, programming, on being pro-active and preventative. The fact of the matter is these schools shootings are preventable. These are kids that are in pain, lonely, have mental health issues, have access to guns, and that is not a good equation.
Jesse wrote three words on our kitchen chalkboard Nurturing Healing Love. Anyone who can love themselves and love others will not want to hurt themselves or hurt others. This is something we can teach. We can teach hate, as Mandela said, we can also teach love and love comes more naturally to us.
Governor Abbott said that the shooter may have been pure evil. I honestly think that’s a cop out. That would mean there’s nothing that we could do. I don’t think anyone is born evil. People are born, they’re in difficult situations, they’re faced with hardship and pain, bullying, and they get angry. They don’t know how to manage their emotions. They don’t have social emotional competence. They do not have coping mechanisms so they become enraged. And they try to off put their pain on other people.
There was a gun control narrative after Sandy Hook. It didn’t work then. It doesn’t work now. We have more guns on the street then ever before. We have more violence. Violence increased I believe 30% last year. For the president to talk about gun control without having another plan 10 years after Sandy hook, I’m hearing the same thing over and over. Let’s change the narrative. Let’s actually do something to keep our kids safe. We’re waiting for someone to come in and fix this. We’re going to have to do that ourselves. It’s going to have to be through awareness and education.
We can literally prevent this. We know how to do it. The fact that this kind of programming isn’t in every school is an anathema. It’s the easiest thing that we can do. It not only helps students but helps their educators as well.
#NurturingHealingLove
