Elizabeth Smart addresses abduction and recovery at LCCC event

Apr. 8—CHEYENNE — Elizabeth Smart wanted her audience to take away three main points from her presentation at the Cheyenne Civic Center on Thursday night.

1. You are special.

2. Bad things happen to good people.

3. You are defined not by what happens to you, but how you respond to what happens to you.

Before she took the stage, though, Smart captured the sentiment of her third takeaway in a more succinct statement.

"I'm still Elizabeth," she said.

With three kids, Smart is performing the taxing daily duties of any mother, making dinner, running errands and caring for her family's pets. In other words, she lives a largely normal life, but there was a time when the "boring" life she lives today seemed unobtainable.

A good portion of Americans likely recognize her name, but there's much more to Elizabeth Smart than what she's known for.

In 2002, Smart was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City at the age of 14. Over a period of nine months, she was repeatedly raped, molested and abused, all while being hidden in plain sight as her captors claimed her as their daughter. The case garnered national attention, with the publicity playing a critical role in her rescue in March 2003.

"I was talking with my mom, and she said to me, 'Elizabeth, what these people have done to you is terrible. There are no words to describe how evil and wicked they are. They've stolen moments of your life that you will never get back,'" Smart said during the speech. "'But the best punishment you could ever give them is to be happy.'

"I've tried 20 years now to think about that advice," Smart continued. "I think it's really good advice. I don't think that you just make a decision to be happy and all of your trauma disappears. I think what she meant was 'never give up.' Never give up, because there is so much beauty in the world, there is so much happiness to be had in the world, for all the bad things that happen."

Presented as a part of the Laramie County Community College Dinneen Writers Series, Smart spent the majority of the event retracing the early days of her abduction and her abuse at the hands of Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee.

She was frank in her recounting, sharing small details and expanding on what was going through her mind throughout the traumatic experience, conveying the brutal reality of sexual assault in the process.

However, some of the most valuable information came when Smart stopped to reflect on her experience before the event during a brief media session in the Civic Center's green room. During this session, she discussed the difficulties that came with being known for one tragic event.

True to her word, she focused on how she recovered from her national perception.

"Part of it was just me coming to value my relationship with myself versus my relationship with what everybody else thought of me, if that makes any sense," Smart told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. "I like myself. It was about getting to a point where I genuinely didn't hate myself.

"I feel like I do what I do because I don't want other people to go through what I have been through. But also, there are things that I'm really proud of that I've been able to accomplish, and I think recognizing that helps me kind of separate myself from 'Elizabeth Smart.'"

Though Smart testified against her abductors in court, it wasn't until nine years had passed that she became vocal about the issues surrounding sexual assault and child abduction in the United States.

Over the years, she's written two books, "My Story" and "Where There's Hope," and founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which focuses on reducing sexual assault and exploitation through education, healing and advocacy work.

She regularly serves as a keynote speaker on the issues of sexual assault and has testified before both the Utah State House of Representatives and the United States Congress in favor of legislation aimed at preventing sexual abuse and child abduction.

She emphasized that sexual abuse is "rampant," pointing out that one in four women are sexually abused in their lifetime, as are one in five men. These statistics are based off of reported sexual assault, but many instances go unreported.

To put it simply, Smart said, we need to do more.

"You think of all the safety education you are taught as a kid at home, at school," Smart said. "If I say 'stop, drop and roll,' everyone knows that I'm referring to fire safety. I'm a fan of fire safety, but personally, I don't know anyone who's caught on fire or who has employed 'stop, drop and roll.'

"But has anyone ever talked to you about what do you do if you're sexually abused? Or how you respond to someone if they disclose sexual abuse to you? As far as I know, nobody's given any training. These conversations, they need to happen."

Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.