Did you hear the snickering when Susan Boyle walked onto the stage on Britain’s Got Talent? A plain, middle-aged lady with ‘frizzy hair’, as the newspaper articles described her – and hardly anybody even tried to hide their immediate reaction of derision. It was like no-one, including the judges, thought she had a right to be there in front of them because she didn’t fit their idea of what is attractive.
Somehow this shy woman found the courage to front up to that kind of ridicule and take a chance at fulfilling her dream of being a singer. She said in her interview on Scottish Television that she felt she ‘had a bit more to offer’ and it was time to get on with her life.
On CBC News she admitted her friends were surprised at the confidence she exhibited. The local owner of the pub where she sings karioki said she watched people’s reactions and was just waiting until she opened her mouth and sang to see those reactions change. And change they did. When that beautiful voice swept and soared around the auditorium people were transfixed.
When pushed to rate her chances at winning the competition or to speak of how all this is going to change her, she just quietly answered, ‘baby steps’. What an astute lady. Baby steps are the way to make your dream come true - baby steps, courage and commitment to doing what it takes to get to where we want to be. What a great lesson for us all.
How harshly do we judge other people by their looks or age and jump to conclusions about how much they are worth as a person? How much do we do it to ourselves and think that no-one is going to be interested in us?
