Elizabeth Smart

We can sit here and chat about statistics.

Actually, I'm not that great with numbers.

I forget them kind of easy.

But I remember stories.

if someone's story is really meaningful or impactful, I'll remember that a lot better than if it's just like a fact.

And so I guess for me, I also saw this as an opportunity to reach out to other survivors, other victims, to let them know that they're not alone.

Because again, I didn't feel like I heard people talk about

rape or sexual violence or abuse as a kid.

And I definitely didn't hear anyone saying, well, that happened to me.

I felt a lot of shame and embarrassment around what had happened and took a long time for me to get over that.

And then as I started kind of in the advocacy world, I mean, it was the same story

everywhere I turned.

So much shame, so much embarrassment, so much guilt, even though they're all victims.

And so I also just felt like this was an incredible opportunity to be on a stage that I could never imagine being on.

Yeah.

A universal one.

Yeah.

And just be able to hopefully reach out to other people to let them know they're not alone.

You're alone and scared.

And actually, maybe this is a hot take, but I think one of the saddest things I see is that when someone dies or, heaven forbid, is murdered, that's it.