Privacy is so sacred, and any time a victim is returned, a survivor is found and rescued, privacy is one of the greatest gifts we can give them because if they decide to share, that's up to them, and they will come forward.
Elizabeth SmartRead
Even when I get on airplanes, very often, as I walk down the aisle, I notice a lot of people staring or whispering. I recognize the fact that yes, to a lot of people, I will always be that 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped and who was held captive.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the lasting impact of a traumatic experience and the perception of others.
Elizabeth Smart addresses the challenges of being recognized not for her current self, but as a victim of a past tragedy. She acknowledges the societal tendency to pigeonhole individuals based on defining moments in their lives, highlighting the struggle for personal identity amidst others' perceptions.
Themes
IdentityPerceptionTraumaResilienceOvercoming
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about resilience, one could reference this quote to illustrate the importance of recognizing one's past while forging a new identity.
More from Elizabeth Smart
All quotes →I'm grateful for rain because, when I was kidnapped, that meant that I had something to drink.
Elizabeth SmartRead
Yesterday from my office window I saw a crippled girl negotiating her way across the street, her shoulders squarely braced. At each jerky movement her hair flew back like an annunciatory angel, and I saw she was the only dancer on the street.
Elizabeth SmartRead
How can I be kind? How can I find bird-relief in the nest-building of day-to-day? Necessity supplies no velvet wing with which to escape. I am indeed and mortally pierced with the seeds of love.
Elizabeth SmartRead
That happened to me, but I'm so much more than that girl that was kidnapped.
Elizabeth SmartRead
I think forgiveness is probably one of the greatest forms of self-love there is because you don't do forgiveness for anybody else. My captors will never care if I forgive them... It will not make a day of difference to them at all, but it will make a huge difference to me.
Elizabeth SmartRead
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