Cloudy Mirror

Susan Boyle on "Britain's Got Talent"

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard the hype over Susan Boyle, a contestant on the show “Britain’s Got Talent“.  (If you haven’t, take a peek at the video on YouTube here.) I can very easily be counted for at least 10 of the 6.7+ million hits on the YouTube video of her performance, and that’s just in the last 24 hours.  Just between you and me, I cried like a baby every time.

She walks on stage only to be met by jeers and laughs, even before she spoke a single syllable.  It was clear that she was immediately being judged based on her appearance.  Some news reports have described her as “frumpy” ,”old” (she’s 47), and a “spinster”.  Apparently, most peoples’ first impression of Ms. Boyle was that there could not possibly be a single talented bone in her body.  Boy, was everyone wrong!  This woman has an AMAZING voice that shocked us all, and that surprise was clearly displayed on the faces of the BGT judges.  They clearly weren’t expecting much out of this contestant either.  As if to make our misjudgement even more glaring, just a few seconds into Ms. Boyle’s performance, BGT host Anthony “Ant” McPartlin yelled at us into the camera, complete with an accusing point of his finger, saying “You didn’t expect that, did you?  Did you? NO!”.

I love this video because, as the BGT judge Amanda Holden said, it was a “wake up call” to all of us to question why we immediately discount someone who doesn’t fit society’s ideals.  It brought to our attention how fast we jump to conclusions about someone without ever knowing a single thing about them.  Most of us don’t show the patience of really getting to know a person before passing judgement.  We are all guilty of this. It’s just too easy to assume things based on what we see on the surface, and it’s usually done within a few quick seconds.

But it is completely and utterly wrong for us to do it.  Ms. Boyle stunned us all with her unbelievably beautiful voice and immediately we fell in love with her.  We made a huge mistake and it was thrown back in our faces.  Shows what we know.

We just need to train ourselves to fight our prejudices and give people a real chance before we write them off.  Some form of beauty can be found in almost everyone, and it’s not just the physical beauty that we’ve all been brainwashed into believing makes someone “acceptable”.   It may not be a fabulous singing voice, or even anything that requires what we would usually define as “talent”.  It could be the ability to comfort someone in pain, the ability to actually hear you when they listen to you, or the ability to love others more than you could ever conceive of.  Beauty is everywhere and it’s not just something that you see, it’s something that you feel.

Learn it & Live it. I will certainly try.

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Congratulations, Rafael Nadal! Yes, of course I mean for winning Wimbledon in simply the most incredible tennis match that I’ve ever seen, but more so for keeping your head on straight and for being such a classy individual. For that, congratulations and a million thanks.

These days, we’re surrounded by celebrities and other public figures who are obsessed with their outer images and how they look to everyone else watching them. They spend exorbitant amounts of money on the latest fashions, cars, parties and other status symbols to show the world how rich, famous and powerful they are. They hang out at all the exclusive clubs and restaurants and are quick to let us know that they are close friends with other rich, famous and cool people.

I would guess that many celebrities feel like they have to constantly work to impress everyone that’s watching them. After all, Hollywood and the music industry rely heavily on external beauty and public opinion to make their money. So if you aren’t beautiful and cool, it’s hard to succeed in these fields. Actors and music artists want people to like them so much that they (or their PR people) will do just about anything so they win the love and admiration of the public. Sure talent still counts for something, especially in sports, but the pressure seems overwhelmingly high for public figures to show that they deserve our adoration.

That’s why it’s so incredible to watch someone like 22-year-old tennis champion Rafael “Rafa” Nadal seemingly shrug off all the media attention and hype that is focused on him. With all of the interviews and flashbulbs that he comes into contact with every day, he somehow manages to remain humble and so utterly normal. Maybe it’s because his family instilled an amazing work ethic and a sense of humility in him or maybe he was just born with it, but whatever it is, I’m grateful to be able to witness it. Continue Reading »

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