Times are tough, but Susan Boyle shows there's hope

[GoesTo11]

http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/1859


All of us have special -- and in many cases -- hidden talents.

On Friday, I couldn't think of a more fitting message to deliver to my high school Junior Achievement students at Raytown South.

After all, Susan Boyle was my ultimate case in point.

By now many of you have heard of Susan or seen the YouTube video She's one of the great feel-good stories I've come across in a long time.

Never-been kissed, never had a boyfriend, church-choir member from small Scottish village dreams of becoming a professional singer. Gets her shot on Britain's Got Talent, the U.K. equivalent of American Idol.

What she did with her opportunity brought tears to many an eye. She absolutely knocked her song out of the park, and that's an understatement. A standing 'o from the British audience, and two of the three Talent judges. Even Mr. Nasty Simon Cowell, the cut you to the bone American Idol judge who doubles across the pond on Britain's Got Talent, was wowed.

Last week, Susan was a nobody. This week, a great inspiration story. And music contracts and riches will surely be coming her way.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. And if we're collectively hitching our wagons,

metaphorically speaking, to what has carefully happened to Susan Boyle (you don't think she surprised any of the judges on that show, do you?), we are so screwed, because she is, for all her glory - and I am one of those who cries every time I see that video -she is a freak, a once-in-a-lifetime event, and we are still left in the pits of despair.

I love all the romanticizing that's going on around this wonderful woman with her sad story that looks to be heading for a happy ending, but what of all the years she spent being picked on and mocked, ignored, left to be lonely, when kids threw snowballs at her door and ran away, when she was called names and, finally, alone when her parents died? What about all those years and where were all the people now who are so enthusiastic about her? The people in her village are so proud of her, but did anyone ever invite her for a meal, offer to stay with her mother for a day while Susan got a break? Did they - those good Christians - ever do anythng about the young thugs who pestered her and called her names?

It's so easy to be gracious when someone has finally done something that we collectively admire, but, tell me this - what is more admirable about Susan Boyle - that she sings like an angel or that she gave up her life to care for her parents, all by herself?

[mamalone]

2. Very well said...

I think you'd really like this article: www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2501746.0.The_beauty_that_matters_is_always_on_the_inside.php|The beauty that matters is always on the inside

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. Excellent article ............

Do you think we've all learning something from this Susan Boyle experience? Will it somehow shift the shallowness that we've come to regard as normal to the back burner, and will we now look past the packaging to whatever there is on the interior?

I'm cynical enough to think not, but it would be nice if this whole thing just served to give us pause, to make us rethink our leaping to conclusions, our new-found ability now to see those invisible people like Susan Boyle.

Thank you very much for this article.................................

[Nay]

10. I also wondered why, if she is the nice person everyone says she is,

none of the people in the village wanted to befriend her, be her boyfriend/husband, any of that stuff? She's never been kissed?? That's just amazing to me. Folks, she looks like many a normal housewife, and her personality sparkles. If you want to get right down to it, I bet there are a hundred men in that village who are "uglier" than she is, and none of them ever came near her?

And people wonder why I like my cats best.

[SoCalDem]

3. If Susan had been born in St. Louis , Mo

she would be scraping gum from under the tables at McDonalds & living at some group home.. She may not even be alive today, since she would have had scant medical care along the way..

She would have had little time to "volunteer at the church", or "go to Karaoke" or to even think about singing.. she would have been too busy trying to stay alive..

[malaise]

4. A profound observation

Her mother would certainly have been in a home

[elocs]

5. And if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. The "if" game is endless and not really useful. n/t

[SoCalDem]

6. a critic speaks..

.... not really useful, but thanks for playing..

:hi:

[Fumesucker]

7. Useful for pointing out the sometimes painful differences in societies around the world..

Ours sucks to a big extent, at least compared to most other developed nations.

[foo_bar]

9. that's not fair, some of the greatest butt-ugly musicians are from St. Louis

Chuck Berry? Ike Turner? Even Scott Joplin might have been a little fugly.