Elizabeth Smart speaks to an audience at the Yates Theatre as part of the Lethbridge Public Library's 100th Anniversary Speaker Series

By Lara Fominoff

Elizabeth Smart speaks of overcoming extreme adversity, hope and the right to find happiness again

Nov 13, 2019 | 11:18 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – When tickets to hear 32-year-old Elizabeth Smart speak at the Yates Theatre as part of the Lethbridge Public Library’s 100th Anniversary Speaker Series in Lethbridge were announced, the events sold out in just two days.

Smart’s story made headlines around the world not only when she was kidnapped from her bedroom by Brian David Mitchell, but also when she was found, walking in downtown Utah with her captors 9 months later.

She detailed some of those experiences during her presentation Tuesday afternoon, telling the crowd how she was very shy and raised in a very Conservative family; that never in her wildest nightmares, could she have imagined what eventually happened.

Telling the crowd how she had a knife to her throat, was made to climb a mountain and settle in a remote encampment, being essentially chained so she couldn’t escape and repeatedly sexually assaulted, she at first doubted whether she could survive and go back home to her family.

“I remember wondering, what was going to happen next? Why was this happening to me?”

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She said she realized shortly after she was kidnapped that her mother would love her no matter what, that her family would be there for her, and that she had to do whatever it took to survive and get back to them.

“When I realized that, I realized that I had something. Something that my captors could not take away from me. I had something worth surviving for. Because even if nobody else in the entire world wanted anything to do with me, knowing that my mom loved me, knowing that she would want me, would be worth surviving for…And that’s how I survived. (I) was basing every decision I had to make off of whether or not it was going to help me survive.”

One of the most often asked questions of her she said, was why when police finally found her, did she not immediately identify herself?

“It’s not that I didn’t want to…but for nine months no one had been able to protect me from them. For nine months no one had been able to stop them from hurting me, or abusing me, or threatening me. For nine months, they pretty much reigned supreme over my life. Whatever they wanted me to do, they would force me to do it. I never had help…I never had anyone I could count on to save me… Every time I hit rock bottom, I could feel a little bit of hope, somehow they would find a way to make it worse.”

It wasn’t until a police officer separated Smart from her captors and told her she had a family that desperately wanted her back, that she felt safe enough to tell them who she was.

To that end, Smart explained that it took nearly a decade for her captors to be brought to justice, and it also took a long time for her to be able to work through her horrific ordeal.

Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee were sentenced in 2010 and 2011. Barzee received a 15-year sentence, but was given credit for 7 years already served as part of a plea deal. Mitchell was sentenced to two life terms in prison.

Her message to the audience was to never give up – even if bad things happen that you don’t deserve. And although she has in a sense forgiven her abductors, she remains steadfast that they won’t ever get a second of her time again.

“They don’t deserve a single second more. So, you need to be happy, you need to live your life the very best that you can.”

There have been many times, she explained, when she felt like she was recovering, only to fall backwards temporarily. However, she never gave up, working through her grief, anger, pain and frustration. She added that everyone has a story, everyone faces challenges that aren’t deserved. It’s how you respond to those challenges and what you decide to do next that matter.

“Happiness is possible. And I know it sounds almost cliché, but even if you can’t be happy right now, just believe it exists. Hold on to that every single day no matter what you face.”