Shark attack survivor shares lesson

Jefferson Award Winner: Jonathan Kathrein

(CBS 5) Jonathan Kathrein knows a think or two about sharks. He survived a shark attack when he was sixteen years old.

"The top jaw was here and the back jaw was here," he says, pointing to the back of his right leg, then the front. "It flipped me over and started swimming with me underwater."

Eight years ago, Jonathan was boogie boarding at Stinson Beach in Marin County when the unimaginable happened.

"I could feel the teeth sinking in. It was almost like a kitchen knife sticking into an apple, where it slides right in after the initial pop, pop of the skin. I was doing whatever I could to get it off of me," he told CBS 5 then.

The shark let go when Jonathan grabbed its gills. It took over 400 stitches and a year of rehab for him to recover. But like his scars, the lessons he learned confronting death stay with him.

"I realized that people were the most important thing to me," he says now. "What I wanted to do was work with kids and teach them a similar lesson that respect and kindness and treating other people right is the most important thing."

So after graduating from U.C. Berkeley, Jonathan started the non-profit Future Leaders for Peace, taking his message of peace and conflict resolution to Bay Area Schools.

"I learned that you have to forgive people for mistakes and accidents," he explains.

Jonathan wrote a book for children about his experience called "Don't Fear the Shark." He says the message is really about human relationships: how we treat each other as well as the environment.

At a recent presentation to school children in San Rafael, the youngsters were eager to share what they've learned.

"The shark didn't know it was human," said one student. "He thought it was food so he tried to bite it."

Jonathan's workshops focus on goal setting, problem solving, honesty, and compassion. Kindergarten teacher Theresa Lum says Jonathan's message is important for even her youngest students.

"I believe that when they have these skills they are able to go out into the world, whether it be at school or at home in the neighborhood, they have some tools to better prepare themselves for the real world and for life," she says.

And older students, from middle to high school, can relate to Jonathan's story of sudden life-altering violence, and... that life is fragile.

Jonathan says, "It's a universal message. We start it with an exciting story. It's really a tool to draw the kids in more than anything."

Jonathan credits his family's support in helping him with his mission. He hopes to mold more future leaders. But for now he's focused on one student at a time.

Together, the class chants with him: "The good you do, will come back to you. But the bad you do, will be sad for you!"

So for using a lesson from violence to teach peace and understanding, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Jonathan Kathrein

Quelle: CBS5.com

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