In this day of age where looks, style and image are everything that equals up to success, every now and then, someone with real talent, raw talent comes along.
This talent is plump and rather plain. She hails from a small Scottish village, Blackburn, and is an unemployed spinster. Had she had a PR firm to groom her, she would have been advised to have a makeover. Perhaps she would have had a different dress, her tresses would have been precisely coiffed. Her makeup would have been perfect. She would have worn a flowing black dress or perhaps pants suit to make her appear slimmer before stepping onto the scene.
But Susan Boyle didn't get such Hollywood or Madison Avenue treatment. Instead, she came as she was, in her natural form, appearing on the reality show Britain's Got Talent. She told Simon Cowell she wanted to be a professional singer and the reason she wasn't one, up until now, is that she hadn't been given the chance.
Her appearance and her voice did not match. They thought she was a joke, perhaps a hoax, until she showed her beauty. She opened her mouth to sing, "I Dream a Dream" and her beautiful voice was almost angelic. She stunned the judges and brought the doubtful audience to their feet with applause. She was transformed and so was the audience and the more than 35 million people who have since watched her performance on YouTube.
Boyle's entire life will change most likely. She has become an overnight sensation. They will line up to hear her sing. She will come to America and appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes, Nightline and Good Morning America. She will answer dumb questions like, "How do you feel, Ms. Boyle?" and "What did you think when...." They will clamor to make her over and her simplicity will go glamorous. She will sing for the queen, the president and appear on the best of the world's stages.
But more importantly than all that is that this simply beautiful lady has restored hopes and dreams for the world. In these doubtful economic times, she was just what the world needed -- a reminder to dream a dream. A voice of hope. Boyle gave us a dose of magic. She sounds like love to me. Not the phony kind. The real kind that makes your heart sing.
You can't always judge a book by its cover. Ethnicity doesn't matter and nationality doesn't either. Boyle erased all that when she sang. She chose the right song, "I Dream a Dream," and spoke the right answer. "I never got a chance. Here I am, world, on reality TV, looking for a chance," her presence said. She got it. She came; she saw; and she conquered her opportunity. In so doing, she taught us a lesson: Be your authentic self and let your beauty shine.
I look forward to the CD of inspiration from Susan Boyle. Thank you for your magic and realness, even on reality TV.
I needed that.