Elizabeth Smart said she never knew why she was “chosen” by her kidnapper, but taking her mother’s advice, she has chosen to move on. “‘Elizabeth, what this man has done to you is terrible,’” she recounted her mother saying. “‘But the best punishment you can give him is to be happy.’” Smart, 25, was the keynote speaker for this year’s Boys & Girls Clubs of Hall County Futures for Kids Gala on Tuesday night at the Gainesville Civic Center. Although Smart’s story is an extreme case, she said everyone faces struggles in life. “There’s one thing all of us have in common — there will come a point in life when all of us ... face a hardship.