The Lesson of Susan Boyle EDITORIAL

LIBERTY, April 16, 2009 – We now know a lot MORE about Susan Boyle than we did just a few days ago.

We know that she is 47 years old, unemployed and looking for a job. We know that she worked tirelessly caring for her sick mother until just a couple of years ago when her mother died. We know that she was ridiculed as a child for her unusual physical appearance as well as her learning disabilities. We also know she sang in the choir of a small Scottish Church from the age of 12.

We would not know any of this about Susan Boyle because she was and is seen as insignificant in and around the small villages in Scotland where she lives.

For 47 years, no one recognized her talent, her gifts and what she could offer the world or what contribution she could make.

All that changed the night she went onstage and performed for the show “Britain’s Got Talent.”

She walked out on the stage in her frumpy dress, hair out of place, unusual and unattractive appearance, and strange mannerisms. The expectations of the audience and the judges were obvious. She was different in the minds and eyes of most people for all the wrong reasons.

It was when she opened her mouth and began to sing the song from Les Miserables’ "I Dreamed a Dream" that the audience decided they held the wrong view of Susan Boyle.

From the time she sang the first phrase of the song, Susan Boyle had the audience on their feet in spontaneous applause. Her vocal talent was extraordinary to say the least.

The judges expressed shock and disbelief at her extraordinary skill as a performer. She was awarded three ‘yes’ votes by the judges to move her forward in the talent competition.

Click HERE to view video of Susan Boyle's Performance

Susan Boyle had been the victim of intolerance for 47 years. The intolerant people around her and in her community had completely overlooked her. They had not noticed the many long hours of work and toil she put in to perfect her skill as a vocalist and performer. She had learned so much and could have served the people of our world in a much greater way than she was ever given an opportunity to do so.

Malcolm Glad well in his New York Times best selling book “Outliers, The Making of Success” concludes that the two components of success are work and luck. Susan Boyle would never have become a success without the luck she experienced by getting on the show, “Britain’s Got Talent.”

She had done the work to perfect her skills for all those many years but never got that lucky break. Part of Susan’s difficulties in not getting that opportunity was due to the intolerance of people she had experienced her entire life. She was different and still is unlike most other people. In all that time no one ever gave her the opportunity or luck that was the only impediment to her success.

The same is true for the most severe form of intolerance I can imagine, that of racism.

Colin Powell	Malcolm Gladwell

Generations ago the ancestors of Malcolm Gladwell, a guy who writes best-selling books, and writes for the New Yorker magazine, were Jamaican slaves. Gladwell is black.

Generations ago, the ancestors of Colin Powell were also Jamaican slaves. Powell is black.

Both Gladwell’s and Powell’s ancestors were the recipients of preference, luck and opportunity that their darker skinned slave contemporaries did not have. The ancestors of both, they themselves hardworking but darker skinned, were unlucky enough to be born really black.

Racism costs society and the world a small fortune in lost human potential, accomplishment and contribution to society. We can no longer afford it’s cost and the high price we all pay for intolerance.

Don’t you think that there were many Jamaican slaves with dark skin who spent lives of hard labor but never had the opportunity or luck necessary to succeed?

Wouldn’t society be a much better place today if we had more Colin Powells and Malcolm Gladwells in the world?

It is long overdue that we start listening to those in our world whom many view as less significant because they are different, or have different ideas, or different beliefs, or have a different appearance than we do. Many of those who appear as less significant than ourselves have the ability but no one is listening to them. We can learn from their experience and their perspective. Life can be a much richer thing if we pay attention to the benefits of diversity. Open your mind and expand your world of thoughts and dreams.

It’s time we start listening and paying attention to those who are different than we are – the Susan Boyles of the world and others. Her YouTube.com video has been viewed over 12 million times in only about three days.

by Allen Youngblood

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