Karen Thurman: “When the gentleman talked about starting here in Congress, I think it is not only starting here in Congress as we try to…”

“When the gentleman talked about starting here in Congress, I think it is not only starting here in Congress as we try to mend ourselves, between Democrats and Republicans. We have done Hershey, and we tried to bring some, whatever, some composure around here to keep us from fighting so much and doing those kinds of things. It is also the teaching of our own children, the healing within our own hearts, with our own children, starting there from a very young age. I want to tell the Members a story that happened to me right after, and any time we can talk about this, but not just with my own children. Right after I came back from that weekend, there was a group of students from the University of Florida who came here on an alternative spring break weekend. I do not know how many Members had students from their communities and from their universities that came to different parts of the country to participate in this, where they actually came here. This group came to work in homeless shelters. They did a battered women's thing, where they painted, took care of kids, and they did those things as an alternative to spring break, instead of going to Daytona Beach 50 miles away, where they could have fun. They were shocked, first of all, by what they saw in D.C. They had exposed themselves to some degree within their own community but never expected to see what was happening in Washington, D.C.…”