Elizabeth Smart . . . what are her parents thinking of?

[James]

The amazing thing about human-beings is how absolutely resilient we are. Give us a tragic event and we recover. This is especially true of children and adolescents. . .

Unless of course that event is made into the defininf charactersistic of our life by constant rehashing and reinforcement.

Poor Elizabeth Smart is now "that girl" forever. Her parents have made this the defining issue of her life. They have decided to immortalize this with magazine interviews, book deals, and a made for television movie.

I understand that we all want our 7 minutes of fame but would you do that your child in the pursuit of your self-agrandizement?

Its terrible.

[mmcat]

now it's a question of where and how she will be in five or 10 years.
bless her heart.

[DWAlphaGam]

Where did this come from? I haven't heard anything about Elizabeth Smart in months.

[ADPiAkron]

I read the Elizabeth Smart book...and I feel the way the parents went about it was fine. Contacting the media and others is what brought Elizabeth home. She will have to live as "that girl" for the rest of her life...but through the caring her parents put into finding her, at least she will be "that girl" instead of "that dead girl." Her parents are very religious people...her whole family is...read the book if you want a better understanding of what truly happened...the media coverage and made for TV movie do not do any justice!

[honeychile]

I haven't read the book, but I think she was going to be "the girl who was kidnapped etc" for the rest of her life, anyhow. Look at Patty Hearst - that happened what, 30 years ago? and she's still referred to as the "kidnapped Heart heir".

Besides, I think when we start taking the stigma out of being a rape victim, more real rape victims will step forward. The statistics I've seen are that one out of every four women were sexually abused prior to the age of 18 - but reports are much, much less frequent.

I'd rather think of Elizabeth Smart as a Survivor, not a victim.

[ADPiAkron]

Right on! She definitely a positive example for parents of abducted/kidnapped children. Gives everyone more hope in finding their child.

[Rudey]

I hear my man Larry at Hustler has some great pictures of her.

-Rudey

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Rudey
I hear my man Larry at Hustler has some great pictures of her.

Hey Rudey,

Nice to see your mind hasn't made it up to sea level yet. Sad, man.

Of course, the bad part is that, at first, I stopped to think -- then giggled a little.

Guess I'm not in much better shape!

[jh124]

I can understand wanting to take the stigma away from rape victims, but I think there is a line that was crossed.

There is a difference between a grown woman - or even an 18 yr old - going to the public and saying she was raped and a 14 yr old.

Personally, I would not want to go through high school with my peers knowing about my sexual history. I wouldn't want my child to do that either.

I think that it's good the police know, and I hope charges will be uphelp against the perpetrator, but I think it's inappropriate for the parents and child to tell the world what happened.

Just MHO.

[ADPiAkron]

May I ask why this thread started...has something new come up?

[Rudey]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Hey Rudey,

Nice to see your mind hasn't made it up to sea level yet. Sad, man.

Of course, the bad part is that, at first, I stopped to think -- then giggled a little.

Guess I'm not in much better shape!

I'm retarded and was thinking of someone else completely. I didn't understand why you didn't like the remark until now and I'm shocked that you giggled!

-Rudey
--It's still a tad funny in a sick way.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Rudey
--It's still a tad funny in a sick way.

Yeah, I worry about myself when that kind of thing happens.

[Munchkin03]

I can only hope they are getting her the proper help, and aren't so preoccupied with mainstreaming her back into her normal life that they forget to address why she wasn't with them in the first place.

[honeychile]

Originally posted by Munchkin03
I can only hope they are getting her the proper help, and aren't so preoccupied with mainstreaming her back into her normal life that they forget to address why she wasn't with them in the first place.

The last I heard, she was in therapy three times a week. Say what you will about them, the LDS takes very good care of their own.

[Munchkin03]

LDS or not, it's good that they're all dealing with the reality of the situation.