There’s A Little Susan Boyle in All of Us
Around every American kitchen table and office water cooler, Susan Boyle, the Scottish Youtube sensation from the TV show, Britains Got Talent, was being discussed, and not in normally dispassionate terms. Stored up tears found their way down cheeks and usually stoic husbands spoke with a sensitivity that their wives have hoped for, for years.
The prejudgment that the audience and judges made as Boyle marched onto the stage was turned into a rousing standing ovation milliseconds after the Blackburn, Scotland choir singer caroled out the first bars of “I Dreamed a Dream,” from the musical “Les Miserables.” A halcyon smile that astonishingly did not pull a face muscle due to inactivity was plastered across the face the master of mockery, judge Simon Cowell.
As with many of the millions around the globe I teared up as she surprised the judges and just about most anyone watching. But it wasn’t her voice nor the surprise that touched me. It was a confirmation of what I found in my many interviews and research for my book, “Great Failures of the Extremely Successful…Mistakes, Adversity, Failure and Other Stepping Stones to Success.” 
But why can’t we stop replaying her Youtube performance? And why can’t we wipe the smile off our faces everytime we watch her?
Maybe it’s because Susan Boyle reminded us just where to find the key to unlock those dreams and dare to bring them to fruition. Because of Boyle, this week baby boomers will search through their files for that novel they were working on just before Woodstock; decades of dust will bee blown off guitars stored away in the attic; Jay Leno wannabes will be reworking their killer five minutes for the next week’s Comedy Works open stage. And ERs about the country will be treating plenty of sprained ankles and sore arthritic bodies as aging Mickey Mantles who had long before willed their softball bats to their grandchildren, once again will swing for the fences. The angel’s voice dressed up in the frumpy dress and home-cut hair awoke in each of us the dreams we had locked in “ain’t never gonna happen” drawer.
In every case, people will be risking against their greatest fear…rejection.
Like Susan Boyle we all walk around with hidden talents that subconsciously wear on us like years of blockage clogging the coronary artery and cutting off lifeblood to the heart. If left untreated for a sufficient period, it can cause damage and/or death (infarction) of heart muscle tissue. Unrealized dreams can do the same.
Most schools, parents and well-meaning friends counsel caution, so that we might not be hurt. Yet it is a willingness to fail, where so much discovery is made. Perhaps Boyle’s success will ease the standard “judgement prior to examination” that we face, or worse, apply to others. “There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are,” said Boyle. “But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example.”
And that she did.
We fell in love with Susan Boyle because there’s a part of her in every one of us, and when she succeeded, that part of us stood up to applaud. We cried because she showed the underdog in each of us that we can win.
Susan Boyle said she decided to take the risk for her mother, but without knowing, she did it for all of us. She gave us her talent, her courage and the lesson that risking failure is almost always necessary to attain success.
She taught us that if we don’t take that risk, we risk never being the best we can be.
Steve
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Amen brother! It made me ashamed that I am so timid and nervous when I try to sing at church. Miss Boyle really threw caution to the wind and poured out all her emotions on that stage. That was what set her apart from the crowd. She abandoned “correct” or “proper” singing and became the character from Les Miserables. What a performance! It should give us all a little more courage to live life to the fullest.
Thank you so much for saying what I haven’t been able to put in to words. There are many of us out here just about Susan’s age - maybe younger? -who have been completely overwhelmed by watching the clip. Thank you Susan Boyle!
Shy? What makes you say that? This is a happy, optimistic, funny woman full of confidence. Just because she dresses like a wallflower doesn’t mean she is one. Go back and watch her before she gets on stage. She says she always wanted to sing before a large audience. Shy people do not have that desire. She says, “I’m going to make that audience rock.” She has confidence and the right mental attitude to wow anyone with that voice.
She’s witty and friendly and chatty and outgoing. Nothing shy there. She saw opportunity and she walked into it. Smart woman.
Thank you! You captured what I felt perfectly when I first viewed Susan’s performance. It’s all about long ago lost dreams and having the courage to remember where we stored them, dig them out, dust them off, and start trying again. No matter that sometimes our dreams really won’t ever come true — as long as we never give up and are working continually on what we love, that aspect of the journey alone will repair our spirits and unbreak our cynical hearts.
Guilty as charged! I’ve watched it about a dozen times. After the first couple of times, I just closed my eyes and her voice became angelic. I certainly didn’t write her off based on her appearance, but at the same time I was as surprised as the judges. Why is that? At least for me, I can easilt buy into the Hollywood lie that real talent is synonymous with being “beautiful”. Not that Susan is not, but our culture can be so superficial and so Susan sent us a message: God has blest us all with gifts and abilities and it’s never to late to let them out of the bag.
Like others, I can’t stop watching and listening to her sing. I feel emotions I didn’t know I still had. I’ve been practicing my own music which I felt I was too old to perform, but now I’m ready to go thanks to her. I in no way can hold a candle to Susan, it’s lyrics I have going for me.
This was a great article. Thank you and thank you Susan Boyle!
Right On!! Susan rebuked us and made us appreciate it. Did it better than any clergy ever has. Susan then inspired us encourage and sent us forth to be better folks. Now we cannot get enough of her. Awesome what a 3 minute sermon in song can and has done. I would love to thank her personally.
Susan Boyle? Susan Boyle? it just goes to show you can never predict who will be the next person to change the world
Truly, We have heard an angel sing.
I have listened to other, well-known, singers sing “I Dreamed A Dream”, and none [I mean none], can sing as well as Susan can.
Steve, you hit on the head (except for the gaff about Susan Boyle being shy!). I added up the “views” for 7 versions of her performance on Britains Got Talent and got **100 MILLION** views. (One version has had 58 million views, another 22 million.) That was in a bit over a month. She may not win the contest (she should make it into the finals, I would think, though there have been some great acts), but she’s set to get a recording contract.
However, it’s not her success that is so inspiring, as you wrote: it’s that she took the risk of failure.
I have been teaching riding (dressage, mostly) to kids and adults for over 32 years. Some are recreational riders (riding i’s SUPPOSED to be fun!), some are dealing with fear, but some are serious and dedicated. I frequently encourage them to risk failure. How else can they learn? I have often said that I have learned many times more from making mistakes than doing things right. You can’t know what you’re capable of unless you’re willing to push the limits. I don’t believe in setting anyone up to fail–they should be well-prepared and understand what they’re doing, but they have to be ready to fail. George Morris, a famous riding instructor/coach, explained to several wannabe show jumper riders that big-time show jumping is a lot like golf: you’ll be lucky to win ONE event a year. Most of the time, you’ll lose. However, you can’t win that once if you don’t accept the risk of losing 10, 20, 50 times.
Right on, Steve! I’m a baby boomer who fell into the classic English-major trap in college; you read all the greats and realize that you’re never going to be a Dickens, let alone Shakespeare, and the result is “how dare I write?”. I hope that this article of yours inspires me to get off my overstuffed behind and write one of the articles and stories that I’ve been talking about for the proverbial dog’s age.
best wishes and thanks–Sue Levy, Brooklyn, NY
I watched Britains Got Talent the night Susan Boyle first appeared. It was magical. She wlaked on stage and wriggled her hips, and Simon rolled his eyes. Then when she sang it was amazing. The judges were dumbfounded. For a change. I think the nicest part of her story is that she remains in her small family home where she feels grounded and safe. Good luck to her.
My very ow “Susan Boyle moment” was way back in high school when I, a timid teenage girl, raised my hand to audition for a major role in one of our school plays. Everybody was surprised — including me. I never knew that I had the guts to raise my hand in such a bold way (based on my standards). I got the part!
And again, everybody was surprised — again, including myself. 
This launched my short stint in stage acting.