Susan Boyle has done it a second time. Tonight in a live broadcast this lady won the semi finals and moves to the next round in 6 days. Obviously, she could not repeat what happened the first time, we were ready for her. But her performance was moving and amazing all the same, just for different reasons.

Imagine, if you will, being in Susan’s shoes for just a moment. A 48 year old woman living in relative obscurity. The daughter of Irish immigrants, her father a factory worker and her mother a shorthand typist. She is the youngest of 10 children. Due to oxygen deprivation at birth, she had learning difficulties and was nick named “Simple Susan”. Her father passed away in the 1990’s and her mother lived with her until her death in 2007. Susan held only one job in her life, a trainee cook at a college. She spent most of her life caring for her mother. Her mother’s death was hard on her. Neighbor’s said it took her several days to finally answer the door at her modest flat after the funeral.

The death of Susan Boyle’s mother was also instrumental in bringing her to us.  Susan had attended Edinburgh acting school.  She had done several auditions for minor parts in small productions as well as a charity CD that pressed only a thousand copies.  She also had a demo tape made which she paid for out of her savings. She gave a few to her friends but otherwise it remained buried.  Knowing better than anyone that her talent should be heard, her mother pressed her to audition for Britain’s Got Talent.  Before Susan made her decision her mother passed away.  Ultimately she decided to audition for the show as a tribute to her mother.  It was the first time she had sang in public since her death.

Her performance blew us all away.  She was jaunty and carefree in her commentary to the judges and seemingly unaware of the audience reaction to her middle aged appearance.  When she sang, people all over the world wept for joy.  Then came the You Tube reaction, and over sixty million more people were captivated by her.  Her name raced around the world to all the major newspapers.  She was Tweeted and Face booked even farther into the stratosphere of legend.  Then came appearances on NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox as well as Larry King Live and Oprah with Simon recounting the story with her.  She was inundated by media at home and couldn’t go anywhere without seeing her face or hearing her voice.

Then came tonight. I went to the BGT website and watched her performance. The announcers shouted her name to audience applause, the curtains opened and immediately the camera went to a close-up of her face. The first thought that flashed through my mind was, “She’s sick.” I had seen this phenomenon before. The butterflies turning to nausea from the sheer weight of what you are about to do. I have felt this and seen other performers literally make themselves sick before a performance so it would not happen on stage. Until the performance there are plenty of people around, slapping you on the back and speaking encouraging words. But there is that few seconds before a performance when you are all alone with it.

And so I imagine everybody encouraging her, walking with her to the center of the stage behind the curtain. They pat her on the shoulder and say a last few “ you can do it’s” and then they have to walk away left and right off the stage. And there she stands. She can hear the noise of the audience, feel the heat of the theater and it all crashes in on her in those few seconds. Sixty million hits on You Tube, Larry King, Oprah, her friends, the newspapers, all these strangers counting on her, millions upon millions now watching, depending on her to lift them once more from their chairs to their feet, to validate their trust and faith in her.

The curtain opens and you can see it flit across her mind like a shot of ice, “My God, don’t let me fail these people.” “Simple Susan” walks woodenly out toward center stage, every eye on her, the theater music gearing up to her cue. The music says “Now!” and she starts to sing, shakily, warbling the notes and a little off key for a millisecond. The nervousness begins to well like a fountain out of her belly and threatens to strangle her music.

But then I saw her take command, this “Simple Susan”. She placed her free hand on her stomach near her diaphragm and pushed. The power began to build as she took control of the beast in her belly and focused on what she came to do. She sang low and sweet and we all knew when Susan had turned the tide. We listened as the power of her majestic voice began to soar and finally she burst into full power at the end of her song.

Yes, “Simple Susan" taught us all a lesson in humility the first time. This time, she taught us a new lesson.

Courage in the face of our fears.