“Nurturing, Healing Love” (the Formula for Choosing Love)

The three words first-grader Jesse Lewis wrote on his kitchen chalkboard shortly before he died, “Nurturing, Healing Love,” serve as the foundational values for the organization. These words, “Nurturing, Healing Love”, are in the definition of compassion across all cultures. The meaning of each of the words form a profound and powerful formula for choosing love:

   1. Nurturing means loving kindness and gratitude.

   2. Healing means forgiveness.

   3. Love is compassion in action.

When you practice these three character values, in that order, you are choosing love.

Courage is also a core value, as Jesse courageously saved nine of his classmates’ lives before losing his own. Courage is an overarching concept as it takes courage to be grateful, especially when things aren’t going your way. It takes courage to forgive, especially when the person who hurt you isn’t sorry and it takes courage to step outside your own universe of busyness and pain to help others.