Susan Boyle

I was going to make a post about Susan Boyle. Everyone's making posts about Susan Boyle. I started mine two days ago, but ran out of superlatives about twenty minutes into typing.

I wasn't going to say anything about judging a book by its cover. That's been stated a few million times already (There were 5 million You Tube hits when I sent the link to my mother a few days ago, now there are over 21 million. I think all the different ways to say "don't judge a book by its cover" have been covered.) What I was going to say was something along the lines of the importance of perseverance.

We ARE going to be judged by our covers. That's the way the world is now. The Idol phenomenon has built its reputation on holding people up for ridicule. It's not enough to have a little bit of talent, it's not enough to be "promising", you have to knock it out of the park every time, and you have to look good doing it. And that's just another part of the world we have built for ourselves.

But we don't all look good. We don't all come into our chosen profession already knowing how to hit a home run every time. We have to practice. We have to listen to coaches, and mentors, and learn, learn, learn. Susan Boyle stayed at home and practiced. She learned what she needed to know before she walked out on that stage.

Should we all wait 35 years before we reach for that brass ring? Hell no! Should we even wait 10? Who knows? But I do know this -- no matter how long we wait, the bastards will always be looking for a way to grind us down. The judges, with their shark's teeth, will always smile in your face and wait for you to falter.

So get out there anyway, yes they'll ridicule you. Yes, they'll mock you and make fun of you and reject you. But if you don't put yourself out there, you'll never get any reward. And yes, every time you go out there, they'll tear another strip off you and laugh when you slink away in shreds.

Until one day, they won't.






Currently reading: Caressed By Ice