It is difficult to begin a review of one of the most sad and yet beautiful books in circulation today, a book written
by the mother of one of the Sandy Hook massacre victims, little Jesse. This book is one that follows a mother’s journey of hope and forgiveness. The tragedy was the incentive for turning the mother into an advocate for peace, and the founder of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation.
In Dr. Wayne Dyer’s forward, he said that the usual first response to the tragedy of losing a small child is
anger and rage, which thereby throws more darkness on the situation. He suggests that the only answer to such darkness is to bring light, and become an instrument of love.
Scarlet Lewis begins her book with the birth on June 30, 2006, of her whopping eleven pound baby boy who was named Jesse. He had an ear-jarring set of lungs, and from the start seemed one who was rushing to tackle life with
much energy. She says he seemed to be always in a hurry and never tired of making big entrances. Scarlet wondered if Jesse, who had so much energy, might have had an intuition that he would only have a short time on the planet.
On the day of Jesse’s birth, Mother Scarlet wrote that she held him in her arms and prayed this prayer:
Dear Jesus, thank you so much for Jesse. I know that he is a gift, and I know that you can take him from me at any time, but please don’t.
She continued to pray this prayer every night when she tucked him into bed.
Today she believes that this prayer was one of countless signs God sent to
prepare her for the unimaginably painful event in the future.
Scarlet wrote that over the next six years, Jesse grew into a delightful combination of a lovable mama’s boy who couldn’t cuddle enough and a fearless, rambunctious kid who was all boy.
The story of the tragedy in Jesse’s classroom on
December 14, 2012, is told and also the long wait until Mother could discover if her son was a victim or not. She prayed that he would be safe and feared that the worst had happened. When she finally heard the truth, her heart was broken even as she found that Jesse had tried to save some classmates. The funeral was spelled out in many sad details as the Mother tried to contain the brokenness of her heart and begin the painful journey to forgiveness and love. There were strange happenings
like unexpected lights, birds, and floating balloons that told Scarlet that Jesse was HOME safely, and she had work to do to spread a message of love, not hate and rage.
