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Lois Smart cried for 24 solid hours after she learned that her oldest daughter had been abducted. I'll never forget the interview on GMA the morning after the abduction, she and Ed were sitting on a couch, and someone asked her a question. She tried to talk, and couldn't, and just sat on the couch looking down, with her lip quivering the rest of the interview. Plus, Lois had to take care of five other children during this whole ordeal (their youngest child was three at the time of the abduction.) I don't know how any family would hold up under the public scrutiny, imagine having your child abducted, and then the media glare on you.

I really have no argument with your post. It still does not change the fact that the dad's behavior is odd. Perhaps you see it differently, but I believe that his mannerisms are unusual and so are/were his comments throughout this past 9 months.

As others have stated, I respectfully kept quiet about my observations, but they have invited some criticism now, IMO. Don't confuse that criticism with excusing the perps or not having compassion for the Smarts.

However, if they turn the ordeal of their daughter into a money-making venture, all questions of character and priority will have been answered, won't they have? If they want to help Elizabeth heal, I doubt that a continuation of the saga at the hands of her parents is wise or thoughtful.

When Lois Smart found her tongue and was able to start speaking before the cameras, she said some pretty strange things to Elizabeth. In retrospect, some of Lois' cryptic messages to her daughter seem eerily appropriate to the precise circumstances that Elizabeth was in.

In a June 19 press conference, Lois Smart told Elizabeth to remember the words to the song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." The lyrics to this song include such phrases as "If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do?.....would I think of His commandments and try harder to be true?.....would I live more righteously?.....would I say the things I say?.....would I speak more reverently?" IMO, these are very strange lyrics to offer to someone who is being held against her will. They seem to be more of an admonition to an errant child.

In another media appearance, Lois asked Elizabeth to remember Betsy Ross.....Betsy Ross? As it turns out, Betsy Ross suffered great hardships in her life when she decided to run away and marry a man of a different faith. As a result of her decision, Betsy was excommunicated from her family, her church and her community. (I could find nothing else in Betsy Ross' history that might be even remotely applicable to Elizabeth's circumstances.)

Lois also made references to family stories......one where Elizabeth had fallen from her horse (her "high horse"?) and had knelt to pray. Another story involved a grandmother who had been bitten by a poisonous snake and how the grandmother struggled to overcome the effects of the snake's venom.

Of course, none of these cryptic messages are proof of anything. However, looking at them now, they seem to me to be strangely appropriate for a daughter who has turned her back on her faith and become "poisoned" by another ideology. I have to wonder what Lois knew and when she knew it.

(BTW, I've brought all of these things up before and I've already heard all of the tortured "explanations" for why Lois might have made these references. I didn't buy them then and I don't buy them now. I have no intention of entering into this fray again.....I'm just restating these things for those newcomers who might find them interesting.)