One for the Smart team
I was reading the transcripts of Elizabeth Smart's testimony in the Salt Lake Tribune the other day and I was just completely struck by how awesome she is. While recounting her ordeal, she's sometimes tough, sarcastic and even a little funny. In fact, if the whole thing wasn't so awful & tragic, it would almost be comical because of just how much smarter she, as a traumatized 14-year old girl, was than her captors.
This additional article in the Tribune really captures some of her cunning:
Smart said that when Barzee again complained Mitchell was “lusting after me too much and not fulfilling her needs,” he gave Barzee a blessing that included a schedule: He would be with Barzee from morning until midday, and with Smart from midday until the following morning.Smart said the schedule backfired on Mitchell one morning while the two of them were fetching water from a spring. Mitchell wanted sex, but Smart reminded him of the schedule. When Mitchell said Barzee would never know, Smart said she would tell her — and Mitchell left her alone.
Asked federal Prosecutor Felice Viti, “How did that make you feel?”
“One for the Smart team,” Smart said with a smile.
It's not in the transcript, but I assume that everyone in the courtroom had to have some kind of "Bravo!" reaction to that.
And actually, she was even more clever because she reminded Mitchell of his claim that this schedule was divinely determined. Likewise, she convinced her captors to return to Utah from California by claiming that God suggested it to her, knowing that they'd be more receptive to that kind of argument. I love that she was able to use their twisted religion against them just as they used it to torture her. It's the power of street smarts and common sense triumphing over physical and religious power. One for the Smart team indeed.
Posted by kris at November 17, 2010 10:46 AM
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| # November 17th, 2010 4:36 PM cherlynda |
| Yeah,I think she is pretty cool too. What a smart young girl..really awesome. |