daniel barden was just a genetically compassionate little kid. he was that kid that always sat with the kid in school who didn't have anybody sitting next to them on the bus or in the classroom. when his parents would take him to the supermarket, they'd be all the way to their car with their groceries, they'd look back and daniel was still at the door holding open the grocery store door for people that were leaving. his parents started up a facebook page that just challenged people to engage in little, small acts of kindness in daniel's memory. it had about 40,000 likes at the last time that i had checked, and the stories are endless on there. a woman who bought coffee and doughnuts for a firehouse in new york state. a missouri woman who helped restock a food pantry in daniel's honor. a woman in illinois who paid for a stranger's meal and just wrote "love from daniel barden" on the bill. jack pinto was a really active 6-year-old boy. he enjoyed playing sports of all kinds. he was buried in his new york giants jersey. his parents, dean and tricia

. >> mark and jackie barden's living room is full of memories of their son daniel. >> his kindergarten. "he was wise beyond his years and truly understood the importance of sharing joy and taking care of others." >> everyone who knew daniel talks about his kindness. >> he's the kid who the day after hallowe'en you'd go over to his house and he'd open up his basket and say, what's your favorite kind of candy? and want to give it to you. i'd say well no that's your candy. he'd say but i enjoy it by watching you enjoy it. that's how he gets enjoyment. like what little kid does that, you know? >> trick or treat. >> and he was musical like his father. ♪ >> christmas before this last year, he got a drum set. ♪ >> for jackie's father's 90th birthday the kids and i got together. we played "what a wonderful world" for papa. daniel played the drums. >> he was really proud of himself. ♪ what a wonderful world [ cheers and applause ] >> on the morning of december 14th, he said, can you show me something on the piano? and so i showed him how to play "jingle bells." i was looking at his little hands

. >> mark and jackie barden's living room is full of memories of their son daniel. >> his kindergarten. "he was wise beyond his years and truly understood the importance of sharing joy and taking care of others." >> everyone who knew daniel talks about his kindness. >> he's the kid who the day after hallowe'en you'd go over to his house and he'd open up his basket and say, what's your favorite kind of candy? and want to give it to you. i'd say well no that's your candy. he'd say but i enjoy it by watching you enjoy it. that's how he gets enjoyment. like what little kid does that, you know? >> trick or treat. >> and he was musical like his father. ♪ >> christmas before this last year, he got a drum set. ♪ >> for jackie's father's 90th birthday the kids and i got together. we played "what a wonderful world" for papa. daniel played the drums. >> he was really proud of himself. ♪ what a wonderful world [ cheers and applause ] >> on the morning of december 14th, he said, can you show me something on the piano? and so i showed him how to play "jingle bells." i was looking at his little hands

>> i just got off the phone with the father of daniel barden.e case and deserves unique treatment. s's unfortunate they weren't able to see that. and he said he'll work hard to do everything he can to protect his kids from having to listen to that. and he also says he believes the potential harm of having the children listen to this outweighs any defineable good that could come out of this. >> it get s tricky when the matters in question are no longer in dispute, so the calls don't shed light on what you're still trying to figure out. anything in there about what they hope for from the media, any pleas from the families to the media about this? >> bottom line is i think that they're just going take the necessary steps to avoid the media and protect themselves and do everything they can. when you look at the other side of this, the freedom of information commission in connecticut and the judge both ruled that these recordings should be released. >> the law is pretty clear and the judge made an interesting point. he said when you don't release thi

i haven't read a book out loud since. >> reporter: the bardens channelled their grief into advocacy, prompted in part by daniel'siblings. >> james and natalie had questions. how could this happen? why did this happen? we didn't have answers. james just said, i hope this never happens to any other family ever again. >> reporter: many newtown families felt the same way. they traveled to washington and state houses around the country. nicole hockley shows lawmakers a photo of her son dylan. >> this is not a mass number of people. this is about my child, dylan. it is about your wife, your friend. it affects all of us. >> reporter: last spring they lobbied for an expansion of background checks on gun buyers. when that failed, they stood with president obama in the rose garden. >> we return home with determination that change will happen. maybe not today, but it will happen. >> reporter: in january, jackie will go back to work part time at the school where she used to teach where she'll have to read aloud again. and mark? he just recently started playing music again. ♪ >> reporter: his full-time gig is with the advoca

. >> like mark and jackie barden, who lost their son, daniel. >> all kids love playgrounds, but danielt in, didn't know the kids, and start playing with them and get a game going. >> the pink is for the flamingoes she loved. >> carlos lost his 27-year-old daughter, victoria. a teacher. >> and every playground we build, she's looking down where her students, saying this is a beautiful thing. >> in the end, that is what this is all about. wrestling against events of unspeakable ugliness to find beauty. happiness, and hope once again. tom foreman, cnn. >>> secretary of state john kerry has gone back to the waterways of vietnam. 44 years ago, he was patrolling them as a young naval officer. this time he's there to deliver a message about the growing threat of climate change. water levels along the delta are dropping, threatening people in downstream cambodia and vietnam. secretary kerry is also talking with government officials in hanoi about releasing political prisoners. >>> that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back, 5:00 p.m. eastern, in "the situation room." i'm wol

the bardens lost their youngest son, daniel, at sandy hook elementary.omment from their oldest son set them on their course. >> it was our 13 year old son, james. he said, "i would like to see no other family ever have to go through this again." and we thought, if we had the opportunity to have some influence in that, then we sure would. with sandy hook promise, we want to be known as the town where tragedy turned into transformation. we'd like this to be the place where positive change, positive meaningful, lasting change started. >> sreenivasan: since young james' early comment, the couple has included their children, even taking them to the white house for spring break. all your kids seem very close. >> they were very close. they used to sleep in the same bed if they could. you want to connect through photos, but sometimes it's just too hard. it's too much. ( sobbing ) >> some days, it's better than others you can see all of his freckles. >> it makes me think of when i used to check his little teeth to see if he brushed, and there was that minty smell

daniel's 11-year-old sister. it says my name is natalie barden and i wanted to tell the president that only police officers and thes. how did that focus on guns so quickly come about? >> james and natalie had some good, honest questions like how did this happen? how does somebody go into a school with a gun and kill children? >> it really came from your other kids. >> yeah. >> we were not political. we were not engaged in any issues. >> that was about to change. >> anderson cooper's special report honoring the children, newtown, one year later, will air later tonight, 10:00 p.m. eastern, on cnn. hd " tdd# 1-800-345-2 >>> a fishing trip that turned into a real adventure, and you can see why. jeff at a marine station in camp pendleton caught a great white on this california beach and lived to talk about it. his wife captured it on vid you. she was a little more than nervous. >> got it. >> yeah. oh, my god. look at it. >> whoa. >> oh! oh, my god. oh, my god. >> illegal to catch a great white, so he quickly set the shark free. he says it took him about 25 minutes to reel it in. >>> he lives half a world away from buck

i just got off the phone with mark barden, his son, daniel, was killed during the shooting.nd he told me we don't want to hear them. and i hope my children don't have to listen to them that. this is a unique case and deserves unique treatment. it's unfortunate they weren't able to see that. and he told me that he'll do everything he can today to make sure that his children are shielded from the media and don't have to listen to the reportings, that he said the potential harm and children listening to it outweighs the definable good as he said. but of course the court ruled just last week upholding the freedom of information commission saying that the release of the audio recordings will assist the public in gauging the appropriateness of law enforcement's response to calls from help from the public. so you have the legal issue here on one side and on the other side, the emotional issue for these family, truly devastating for them. >> pamela brown reporting live from new york. and again, we expect those tapes to be released sometime this afternoon, 2:00 p.m. eastern we think.

mark and jackie barden lost their son daniel. >> every day that passes, it's further away from our lifea year since i've held him, it's no time at all. >> reporter: nicole hockley keeps her son dylan's ashes in an urn on her dresser. she talks to him every day. >> what do you say? >> i kiss his urn. i say hello to him every day and say good-bye to him every night. >> reporter: erica lafferty's mom dawn hofstra was the principal who stood up to the gunman that day, who loved chocolate and signed every note with a smiley face that's now tattooed on her hand. >> you called your mom every day. >> every day. >> do you still pick up the phone? >> i do. i had to cancel the phone because i called all the time. >> reporter: in the months followed the shooting, they prompted questions their other two children were asking. >> how could this happen? why did this happen? we didn't have any answers. and james said i just hope this never happens to any other family ever again. we had the option to do nothing or to do something, and then when you think of it like that, we didn't have any options. >> re

daniel do in a foundation where we can reach people with that kindness. >> it is remarkable and inspirational as are you and your family and so many folks touched by this tragedy. mark barden you for taking the time to talk to us today. >> thank you for having me. >>> president obama was inspired to fight injustice and public service by nelson mandela. mandela's impact on obama never waned. >> we've lost one of the most influential, courageous, and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth. he no longer belongs to us. he belongs to the ages. >> let me bring in washington bureau chief of the chicago sun times lynn swede. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> you heard the president yesterday. he was highlighting how much nelson mandela meant to him when he was a young person thinking about what he was going to do with his life. it really did start early for him, this influence, didn't it? >> it did. obama has talked many times about his first political acts, chris, were protests as anti-apartheid movement that was such a big movement in the united states. and, you know, a young obama having a political awakening found his activism in