Les Misérables

Susan Boyle

If you haven’t seen Susan Boyle’s performance of “I Dreamed a Dream ” from Les Misérables on “Britain’s Got Talent” (BG), here’s your link.  Don’t walk, run.

Back?  Amazing, right?

First, what’s not interesting, though this is what you’ll read about and hear from your friends:

1. Over 13 million YouTube views within four days
2. Tweets from Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore about how the performance made them cry
3. Global mainstream media coverage of the performance and the online reaction
4. Dozens of “fan sites” launched immediately in order to greedily grab those page views and Google Adwords click-throughs

None of this matters one iota compared to what really is interesting about this story.

According to the reports, Susan Boyle is unemployed.  Single.  By her own very public admission, never been kissed.  Nearly 48 years old.  Perfectly ordinary to look at.  In other words, the least likely candidate to succeed in a pop music starlet identification contest one could imagine.

When asked which singing star’s example she aspired to, she stated without hesitation, Elaine Paige — merely the most successful female musical theatre performer in British history.

Admit it.  If you came across an individual of similar profile in any other context, your would judge as the BGT judges admitted they had: hopeless. A disaster.

Like our economy. Like the unemployment situation in Detroit (over 12% as reported today).  Leave it for dead.

But unlike so many, Susan Boyle still hangs on with hope.  She sang a song entitled “I Dreamed a Dream,” a song about disappointment and despair:

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

Once in a great while, a World Wide Rave [with apologies to David Meerman Scott] occurs which is more than just “cool.”

For me, this one is a lesson in humility.  Susan Boyle carried out a simple act of courage and faith notwithstanding her circumstances.  From the opening note, she had utterly transformed the environment around her.  Those who sneered were agape in wonder.  Those who judged, reversed their verdicts.  Those who were seated, stood, applauded, cheered.

Our culture is an interesting and resilient thing.  Just when we think we know what innovative approach or revolutionary breakthrough is going to drive us to the next plateau, some damn example of values based on permanent and immutable truths comes along and leads us in a whole new direction.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }