Posted on 03/14/2005 4:24:40 AM PST by beyond the sea
Just two days after moving into her Duluth apartment, Ashley Smith is up late unpacking.
At about 2 a.m. Saturday the 26-year-old runs out of cigarettes and heads to a local convenience store to buy a pack.
When she returns, she sees a man in a truck was waiting outside her door. She had seen the man earlier but didn't think much of it.
She gets out of her car and shuts the door.
She hears the door on the truck close at about the same time. Fear rises in her.
Holding her key in her hand, she makes her way to her front door. As she slides her key into the lock, she turns to see the man from the truck. She screams. He pokes a gun into her ribs.
"Stop screaming," he demands. "I won't hurt you if you stop screaming."
She fears the worst that she will be raped and killed.
"Do you know who I am?" he asks.
He is wearing a dark blazer beneath a red ski parka but no shirt. He has a new UGA cap on his head.
She doesn't know him.
He removes the cap, showing his shaved head.
"Now do you know who I am?" he asks again.
She recognizes him. She begins to tremble with fear.
"I won't hurt you," he tells her reassuringly.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Same kind of mentality that sprouted during Clinton/Lewinsky, when Clintoon defenders were trying to excuse his actions by saying "even King David sinned". Sure he did--and he was forgiven, immediately, by God--but NOBODY wanted to talk about the consequences King David faced as a result of his sin. Divine redemption is NOT a "get out of jail free" card!
I watched the interview on FOX. At one point she said that he looked at the TV and said "that's not me" and that she responded "yes that IS you". She also said something about how he has to accept the consequences of his actions.
That reminds me of how some here reacted to the story of the 14-year-old kidnapping victim in Utah a while back. They had concocted this fantasy that her kidnapper had been her lover and that she ran away with him as opposed to having been kidnapped at knifepoint.
Indeed. Jesus died to save us from the ETERNAL consequences of our sins. Earthly consequnces still must be faced, no matter how sincere your repentence.
On the other hand, if she didn't smoke, he would have killed more people for sure. She was able to subdue him, and it worked outas a miracle.
Amen!
Thank you so much for passing that along to "o". He/she seems to have a somewhat different and suspicious interpretation of events. He/she even suggested that Ashley was "apologizing" for Nichols' actions.
Not cool! Maybe 'over50withabrain' would be a little better! ;-)
Yes I remember, Pamela sharp who played the harp.
The shroud of some of being vigilant and having the need to verify every story is also sometimes just the explanation and illustration of a jaded mind. Sometimes!
Pamela Smart ......... ooops.
If she hadn't been going out for cigarettes she wouldn't have been in place to save those lives. Earlier you said her being held hostage was a "good reason to quit smoking."
So which way is it? Nobody gets to have things both ways at the same time. Just think, if smoking were illegal the way you and your fellow fanatics wish, "more than a few lives" more may have been lost.
God works in mysterious ways. Apparently He even does good works through cigarettes and their smokers. Remember that next time you get on your crusading soapbox.
Speaking of knives, I read that Brian Nichols told his lawyer that the "shanks" that were found in his shoes when Nichols was going back to prison were his "arch supports".
Is that rich?
;-)
Then they haven't bothered to watch her.
"She basically said God wanted him to escape the courthouse so he could see the light."
No she didn't! She said God sent him to her so he wouldn't kill any MORE people. Don't put words in her mouth!
The Stockholm Syndrome comes into play when a captive cannot escape and is isolated and threatened with death, but is shown token acts of kindness by the captor. It typically takes about three or four days for the psychological shift to take hold.
A strategy of trying to keep your captor happy in order to stay alive becomes an obsessive identification with the likes and dislikes of the captor which has the result of warping your own psyche in such a way that you come to sympathize with your tormenter!
The Stockholm Syndrome comes into play when a hostage *cannot escape." It typically takes 3 or 4 days for the *psychological shift* to take place and the strategy is to keep the captor happy by obsessively identifying with *the captor's likes and dislikes* -- not converting the captor to the hostage's likes and dislikes or way of life.
I'm not saying Mrs. Smith did not bond with Nichols, because obviously a bond was forged in a relatively short time. However, the use of the term Stockholm Syndrome is not applicable to whatever did happen between them.
I really feel there is something very important with what happened with this incredible girl. I can't put it in words very well right now, so I won't even try. That interview is magical.
I'm not at all into organized religion, but God and decent living is another thing. I believe that this girl's actions will be and SHOULD be remembered for a VERY long time.
I'll say more later after more time, but I greatly thank you for the directional arrow to this interview! This was an incredible episode, the meeting of Brian Nichols and Ashley Smith.
I think there is a message in this that stands closely and familiarly with the message of Free Republic. But, we'll have to flesh it out a little later. Please keep me in touch with anything that you see about this event! Thanks again!
Right, and I just saw the interview of Ashley Smith, and she stressed that she told Nichols that he would HAVE TO PAY FOR his crimes!
She did NOT have Stockholm Syndrome.
She had something bigger than that: faith.
I agree.
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