Patty’s Ponderings-In Search of Inspiration

Its Monday, you’re short on energy and inspiration. Right? Well, maybe I can help with the inspiration part. This past weekend I watched a “Dateline NBC” special featuring Meredith Viera’s interview with remarkable kidnapping survivor, Elizabeth Smart. I was stunned by her revelations and impressed with her peaceful, mature, and spiritual demeanor.

You might remember that Elizabeth was the beautiful, innocent, harp playing, horse loving, 14-year-old girl, living in Salt Lake City, when she was abducted from her bedroom in the early morning hours of June 5, 2002. Elizabeth was imprisoned and sexually assaulted, sometimes multiple times a day, for nine nightmarish months.

The twists and turns in the case were astounding and the close calls when she was almost rescued, heart wrenching.  After the first assault she referred to herself as “broken beyond repair” and “shattered”. Finally in March of 2003, she was found in Sandy, Utah and delivered from- in her words- “a living hell.”

She is now a vibrant, married 25 year old with the philosophy that “happiness is the best revenge”. She started the Elizabeth Smart Foundation to bring awareness to crimes against children, is finishing a music degree at Brigham Young University, and travels the country doing inspirational speeches and advocacy work.

She hopes her book will help people who are also victims to know that it is possible to move forward in life and find contentment, no matter what they’ve been through. Elizabeth knows it is not easy, but it is possible.