Three women spoke with Lisa Ling and expressed their distress at losing their children. These woman sounded less robotic to me than other women from the compound that I had seen interviewed on other shows. But they still had the same dress, the same hairstyles. And still proclaimed there was nothing unusual going on at the compound. And they still had pictures of Warren Jeffs on the walls. Now, I know there are lots of evils and lots of creepiness in the world outside that compound, but to have a picture of a man convicted of accessory to rape on the walls in children's bedrooms seems just plain wrong.
Elissa Wall was fourteen when she was forced to marry her cousin. She helped explain that the followers inside the compound really don't think what they are doing is wrong. That a woman's greatest honor is to marry. Elissa didn't necessarily feel that way and begged and petitioned to wait at least two years before getting married. But that petitioned was denied and Elissa got married not knowing that sex even existed, let alone that it was in her very near future. For a society that has a bed in church and that marries off young children, Elissa didn't even know where babies came from. She was taught they came from heaven. Elissa went on to help convict Warren Jeffs, leave the cult, write a book, and find herself on Oprah's couch. Elissa seems pretty well-spoken and self-assured. She tells a compelling story. She escaped and has a new husband and two children. And got a new hair style, duly noted by Oprah.
Oprah via Lisa Ling also visited an abandoned school that was run by Warren Jeffs. He was the principal. It had secret rooms, birthing centers, and basement baptismal. Ling described a dark presence as she walked through a maze of rooms with secret tunnels. The curriculum was designed by Jeffs and altered history, anatomy, and even the moon walk. Again, there are lots of things wrong in this world, but the creepiness in this place could be sensed right through the t.v. And thankfully there are some who will help woman and children escape if they so desire. Now, I'm not saying different is wrong, but I'm all for free choice and possibilities and women having a voice. Maybe that's the part of the creepiness.
What would it be like to be a girl and to go from that place to this world? From those worries to the worries in the outside world? How do you absorb the differences? The changes? What does that feel like? What thoughts accompany that transition? I wanted to know. Oprah wanted to know. She asked, but none of that was really answered. Maybe it can't be put in words. Maybe there is some fear that it's worse on the outside. Maybe there's still fear and respect for that former life. Freedom to think, to leave, to get information to make decisions. What can replace that? I am a spiritual person, but I got to choose that spirituality and that makes it all the more precious to me. I wish that for those women, and yes, even for the men who are part of that culture. Thanks to Oprah and Lisa Ling for shedding some light.
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