| Welcome to the
first written feature of the ES.com Probe. Under more ideal
situations I would try to write something with a bit of dry humor or
unabashed sarcasm, but I thought it would be more fitting for me to take a
look at the events surrounding Elizabeth Smart and how they are unfolding.
It may seem a bit glib and most definitely a little morbid to describe
this incident as interesting but it must be examined so that other
children don't befall Elizabeth's fate. She was lucky in the fact
that she was found alive and able to return to her family, but thousands
of other abducted kids never have that chance. This is why this
story is so important, so that we can learn from our society's
collective mistakes and take precautions so that we can reduce or,
better yet, eliminate the need for this type of anguish for anyone else.
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It's now been close to 60 hours as I write this since the story broke that Elizabeth Smart was found, alive and in good physical health, in a suburb not 20 miles from her sprawling home in Salt Lake City, UT, where she was taken against her will from her bedroom the morning of June 5th, 2002. Since then, of course, stories and reports have flooded in from just about every single news source in the United States. There are a lot of questions, of which a precious few actually have answers right now. Some may be answered within a few weeks or months, but most will not make it outside of the Smart family and still others only Elizabeth will ever know the answers to. That is her right, of course. The burning question in the minds of America though, is why? So far the majority of speculation leads to the fact that Elizabeth's abductors, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Ilene Barzee, kidnapped her as a "replacement daughter" or that Elizabeth was slotted to be the first in a harem of seven wives. Time will tell if any of these theories prove to be true, but the facts that do exist speak loud and clear. First, Mitchell is a self-proclaimed prophet and polygamist that was excommunicated from the Church of Latter-Day Saints for his fanaticism in the mid-1990's. When he married Barzee, his third wife, he made her 12-year-old daughter so uncomfortable with his improper advances that she eventually fled from her family, leaving her mother in emotional shambles and vulnerable to his | |||||
| suggestions. He also wrote a 27-page letter, later collected by the Salt Lake police department and described by people familiar with it as his own version of the Book of Mormon. In it he details his vision for polygamy and, when one thinks of young Elizabeth or her 18-year-old cousin Jessica Wright, who it seems was the planned victim of another abduction by Mitchell and Barzee, the pieces that come together form an unquestionably frightening picture. Vicki Cottrell, who is an old friend of Barzee's and the head of the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill in Utah, recently visited Barzee in the Salt Lake jail where she was being detained and, after conversating for a few minutes, came away with this comment: "I just couldn't [ask].... I didn't have the strength." This was in response to a query by the Deseret News on whether or not Mitchell had consummated his planned marriage with Elizabeth. I completely understand.. if I was in her situation I probably wouldn't either. But the thing is this: no one knows, and everyone wants to know. And everyone has their hunches about it as well. When I read that the police declined to comment on whether she was sexually abused a little red flag went off in my head, as I'm sure it did for many others as well. It would be key in convicting these two felons but at this time only Elizabeth knows, and until she is willing to comment on it, she is the only one who has the right to know. Ed and Lois are very resolute about letting her reveal things at her own pace, which I applaud, but at the same time she needs to move forward with her life, and voice those secrets she hold within herself to someone, whether it be just to her parents or through the form of professional counseling, or she will not be able to return to being Elizabeth. At the same time, they need to understand that she will probably never fully recover from the psychological trauma she received, and there may always be a little part of Augustine Marshall in her. | ||||||
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| The one definite thing we know about Elizabeth's nine-month ordeal is that she's home with her parents and siblings where she belongs, safe in the knowledge that it's over. How long it takes her to fully re-adjust to the life she left behind after being brainwashed by Mitchell remains to be seen,. but she is a bright articulate girl and with the support of her tightly knit family, I'm sure she'll be OK. It's almost impossible to read, see or hear about her story without feeling many emotions, among them anger, pain, sadness, depression, etc. The most powerful, however, are hope, joy and happiness, and the Smarts right now must have all of these in abundance. I myself find a few tears welling up in my eyes as I write this, a story that provides living proof in the fact that God does answer prayers. More than that though, it's a testimony to Ed and Lois Smart, two parents that never relented on their hope that their little girl was still alive and waiting to be found. And because of their determination, drive and faith, this story has a happy ending. |  "It's real!" A jubilant Ed Smart surrounded by news media. (AP) |
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"I'm the luckiest
girl in the world! Thank you for your love and prayers! It's
a wish come true! I'm home! I love you all!" |
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| This editorial and the views expressed within are the opinions of Ehren Stemme. The author in no way represents Yahoo!/GeoCities, the Smart family or anyone else mentioned in this editorial. For comments or factual discrepancies please contact the Webmaster | ||||||
