Members of Connecticut’s legislative delegation are participating in “Days of Kindness” this week, events designed to recognize the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.
On Monday, Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, of Connecticut’s Fifth District, read to preschoolers at the YWCA in New Britain.
The city is in Esty’s district. So is Newtown. She said modeling kindness can be an approach to dealing with one of the darkest tragedies in our history 20 children and six adults gunned down inside of an elementary school.
She showed the preschoolers her bracelet that reads Sandy Hook Never Forget.
“They wanted to know what it was,” Esty said. “Of course, you don’t really want to talk with four year olds about what it is, so it was an opportunity to talk about keeping everybody safe.”
While much of her work in DC centers around fighting for gun control measures, she said these local events are a way to keep grounded.
“It is about being precisely in the sorts of classrooms where some of this carnage has now occurred and they need to have that reassurance and they need to be gentle with each other,” Esty said. “If you really see another person as your brother, your sister, your neighbor, than you’re not going to respond in the same way.”
