Strong women rise above wrongs, even their own

Olympia Snowe made her mark in the world this week by supporting the Finance Committee’s health care bill.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is rubbing elbows with heads of state all over the world.

Sarah Palin has gone rogue. (I’m not sure what that means, but whatever Palin does with the rest of her life, I’ll wager it won’t be dull.)

Three powerful women, three names that will go down in history.

I’d like to add three more. What these women have done won’t be added to the record of what has happened on the world stage, but they are as powerful and courageous as any.

The most recent that comes to mind is Jaycee Dugard. Kidnapped at 11, she not only was raped by her abductor, but also bore two children before finally being set free from her captor this year. Now nearly 30, she is reconnecting with her family and learning how to live a normal life again.

Will she make it? Only time will tell, but the fact that she managed to stay alive for years indicates that she’s a survivor. One of the biggest challenges she likely will face is people who don’t understand how powerful and controlling psychological captivity can be. Some cages are invisible.

Another young woman who was both brave and strong enough to survive was Elizabeth Smart. Abducted at 14, she was found months later with her captor. Now 21, she testified this week at a competency hearing for him. That testimony included the fact that she was raped several times a day, every day.

She survived — and had backbone enough to publicly say what had happened to her. Even years after the fact, that is not something anyone would want to have to relive, or share with the public, but Smart gave her testimony.

The final example is a strange case indeed. In 1977, Cathleen Crowell, then 16, falsely cried rape. In 1979, Gary Dotson went to prison on her testimony. In 1985, she recanted.

Which all begged the question, was she lying then or was she lying before?

Crowell had become a Christian in the intervening time, and she said her conscience would not let her live with a lie that put a man in prison. The Illinois governor finally commuted Dotson’s sentence to time served, but he was back in and out for breaking parole.

The question of Dotson’s actual guilt or innocence was finally put to rest with a DNA test. Not guilty.

Cathleen Crowell Webb died last year of cancer. So, what’s it to be for her mark in the world? A lady or a liar? Accolades for at last telling the truth, or condemnation for lying in the first place? Both, I suppose. Put an asterisk by her name. Doing the right thing, no matter how much courage it takes, does not always bring absolution for the past. The case does serve as a reminder that every man accused is not necessarily guilty.

Not all strong women sit in seats of power. They go by, unrecognized, doing the everyday things of life.

But there are many who, when the time comes, do what they must to survive, and to eventually walk free, in body and in mind.

Only they will ever know just how big a price they paid.
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Persinger is community editor for The Tribune. She may be reached at (812) 523-7063 or jpersinger@tribtown.com.