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The Miracle and Lesson of Susan Boyle, Superstar

Updated on April 22, 2009

Like many who were privileged enough to watch Susan Boyle on You Tube or television, I found myself shedding a tear as she sang. Actually, shedding a tear is an understatement, being filled with waves of irrepressible emotion is a more apt description. Why?

This somewhat portly, undeniably ostensibly plain, unemployed 47 year old Scottish woman with a fondness for raisin buns walked onto the stage at Britain's Got Talent with very little apparently going for her, but she left not five minutes later a superstar.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, watch the video. You're in for a treat.

At first, Susan appeared to be yet another delusional commoner with aspirations to grandeur beyond her station. That assessment was reflected in the faces of judge, audience and yes, on mine as I watched the opening minute or so of her spot. We couldn't wait to laugh at her failure, to send her on her way, to shake our heads at how stupid some people were to even try.

Then she opened her mouth, and in an instant both shamed and enlightened an audience of millions. She has the voice of an angel locked in an all to earthly body. It sends chills down the spine, it transports the listener to another place, it truly is, in every sense of the world, transcendental.

Yet for all this talent, Susan herself is humble, cheerful and down to earth. She has clearly lead a simple life uncomplicated even by the normal relationships most women experience in their lives. As she says, “never been kissed.” It is painfully evident that that night on Britain's Got Talent was not the first time she had been dismissed out of hand. It may have been the first time she showed just how much everyone had been missing, however.

Would Susan Boyle have the same effect if she were a sleek and primped opera star? I would argue not. For sleek and primped celebrities performing amazing feats are a dime a dozen and we have come to expect such things from them. The lesson that Susan Boyle reminded us all of what the fact that beauty exists inside the most ordinary of us and is not dependent upon looks or money. You don't need to be young, you don't need to be pretty, you don't need to be rich to be extraordinary.

Diamonds do exist in the rough, there is more to life than meets the eye and what lies beyond mere appearances is more heartbreakingly beautiful than we could care to imagine. Thank you, Susan.


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