2wenty2wenty: Shirlock's Blog

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Susan Boyle

Once in a purple moon (when it's long past being blue), you run across a story that is worth its salt, that touches the human soul because of its capacity to be true and humble, yet grandiose and larger than life. I was sent a link from my dear friend Lu to watch a phenomenon that is currently overtaking Youtube. Five days and it's hit 9 million viewers. There's something that is touching, strumming, and humming in the hearts of many of us.

Our world deems beauty a "talent" when all it is, is "personal, subjective like". If by external measurement we call one such person "beautiful", surely, that is a compliment for the Creator. Susan Boyle had talent long before she was discovered by Britain's got talent. Many commented on Youtube one should never judge the book by its cover and rightly so. Simon Cowell did an eyeroll when she said she was 47. Perhaps it's rare to see a 47 year old hit all the right notes. I might have done the same if I've sat through hundreds, if not thousands of wannabe singers who do better in the shower than on stage. Still, it warms my heart to see the underdog become top dog, someone older than most other contestants take her place on the stage, walk off after her rendition (out-Paigeing Elaine Paige, out-Fantineing Melora Hardin), completely unaware of protocol, and then curtsy at the end with "thanks" and sending an old-fashioned flying kiss to her instant fan club thundering a second ovation. (Maybe it was the first standing ovation that never sat down.)

It's one of those timeless moments where I can hear God whisper "My ways are far different from the world's, My ways are higher than yours." He takes the simple, the humble, the weak and the marked down castoffs and lifts them to where He is. All the talent in Susan's voice can not make up for the effort and the courage she showed to actually stand before her critics. In an age where television sells epidermal beauty, it's a breath of fresh air to see something this surprising, this polarizing, this positive.