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— Chris Dunmire

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Stand tall in this world. You are worthy and beautiful!

A tribute to Susan Boyle

By Chris Dunmire, CurrentLiving.com

It's April 18, 2009. Making headlines in entertainment news and all over the Internet these days is Susan Boyle, an unemployed 47-year-old Scottish woman who taught the world an unforgettable lesson this week.

What lesson? First, if you haven’t seen it already, please watch this 7-minute YouTube video clip from the TV show ‘Britain's Got Talent 2009'. Believe me, it’s 7 minutes of your life well-invested in appreciating true treasures of human potential and creativity.

If you already saw it or just watched it: Wasn’t that beautiful and amazing? When I first watched this clip, I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. At first I thought it was a joke — and that I was watching an ‘American Idol-type’ show with a lip-synching gag with a new twist designed to throw some usual pity-poor sensationalism into the show.

Within moments though, I realized I was wrong. My heart swelled with joy and delight watching this woman perform — singing with such grace and beauty which contrasted with and defied the gravitational pull of my TV-Land brain. As beautiful song and soul poured out from this woman I wondered how many others were asking the same question, “Where did THAT come from?”

I was extremely grateful for this gift — of experiencing something so totally unexpected and spiritually uplifting — so unifying and out of this world. But then I realized, as I watched the expressions on the judge's faces and listened to the audience react, how mistaken I was. How mistaken we all were. We were guilty of pre-judging, prejudicing, and jumping to conclusions about what was about to unfold before us. Did any of us give Susan the benefit of the doubt? Or were we just waiting for her to flop and for Simon to say with his usual biting sarcasm, “That was the most horrifying howling I've ever heard.”

My throat tightened and tears formed in the corners of my eyes. I was in awe and ashamed at the same time. Susan re-taught me what I thought I already learned, but still seem to forget at times, about not pre-judging people and situations before getting all the facts. I was humbled. And I was happy.

• • •

Having thought this was UK's counterpart to ‘Idol’, it didn't surprise me that the usual MO of these reality-TV shows (especially with Simon Cowell as a sitting judge) seems to focus on talent AND on what is seen by the eyes. “The whole package” of art and beauty, so to speak, of marketable profitability. In other words, what you look like and how others perceive you on the outside, from your physical appearance to charm, is a high priority. Past experience on these shows has us expecting that less-than-picture-perfect-looking and polished contestants are on the show as razz-prized William Hung’s to fuel media's ‘mock and awe’ twittery chatter.

Unknowingly, Susan teased us before she began singing by talking about the “small village” where she lived. She stood before us an older woman, out of the usual ‘Idol’ demographic, body type, and image of those (especially women) who have a chance at moving up in the ranks on these shows. We took cues from the judge's facial expressions and waited for the forthcoming ‘humoring’ and were met with something else we needed instead: a slap with a big fish on the side of the head. Susan didn't need to say anything. Her kind, humble actions told it all. She was modest and poised as she allowed her creativity to flow in amazing song...and all that power just shattered our perceptions.

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