Trisha Mieli

I had the privilege of hearing Ms. Mieli speak today. I went to a sexual assualt training class at the base (Kings Bay) this morning. Ms. Miele is the Central Park Jogger. For those of you who don't remember her story, she was jogging in Central Park in NYC one evening after work and was attacked. She was beaten, raped, sodomized, and left for dead. She suffered countless severe injuries, including a major brain injury, loss of smell, loss of motor function, and loss of some physical and cognitive abilities. The attack happened in the late 1980s and was world-wide news.
Ms. Miele remained anonymous for years before coming out with a book just a few years ago. To this day, Ms. Miele has no recollection of the attack or approximately 6 weeks following the attack. She still suffers some cognitive disabilities and still has no sense of smell. Her face is disfigured from the beating.
Six young men were tried an convicted of the beating and rape. However, several years later their convictions were overturned because a man in prison for serial rape and murder admitted to the crime and said he had acted alone. His DNA matched DNA found on Ms. Miele so the convictions of the other men were vacated.
Anyway, her story is truly amazing. It is a story of perserverence, determination, and victory. Just recently, Ms. Miele completed the New York Marathon, which finishes in Central Park, in under 4 1/2 hours. That's a pretty good time, especially considering that she had to learn to walk all over again after the attack.
What was most amazing to me about her story is her lack of bitterness and anger. I wouldn't call it forgiveness, that's not the right word. But she harbors no anger, resentment, or bitterness at the men who so viciously attacked or at the legal system, which seemingly failed her. She said that she learned many important lessons during her recovery, the most important of which was living in the present. She gave the example of learning to use her hands again. Her occupational therapist gave her a board with holes and nails in it. She had to use tweezers to move the nails from one hole to another. If you have a preschooler, you know that this is similar to what they do in school at around 2-3 years old. Ms. Miele said that she was asked why she didn't get bored with the task or angry at having to start from scratch again. She said that she learned to just focus on what she could do at that moment and to do the best she could with what she had. Baby steps, I guess.
She also said that she learned that getting angry or bitter about her attack served no useful purpose. She said that it didn't matter which person out of the whole world of people did this to her; someone did, she didn't know who, and it wouldn't change things if she did. Bitterness and anger would only hurt her and she had too many other things on which to focus her energy.
Hers is a truly inspiring story and I'm looking forward to reading her book.