Susan Boyle
April 18th, 2009 by Bill ColleySusan Boyle is God’s messenger.
A writer at the Boston Globe named Paulson asks us why Boyle has touched so many people around the planet. He admits to his worries about the demise of his paper but is transfixed by the You Tube video of Boyle singing on television. M. Paulson quotes theologians and wants your thoughts on why Boyle is important to all of us.
The theologians have it right but I’ll go beyond. Boyle is God’s message. She has lived quietly and unassumingly for almost 50 years in Scotland in preparation for our times. The Globe writer fears for his job. There are food riots around the world. The Chinese have eaten our lunch. Newsweek charges Americans have given up on God.
Then comes a humble Scot and we are moved from our self pity and shaken by the voice. By Friday I stumbled across a ten year old recording of Boyle singing. Tears formed in my eyes.
Boyle’s voice is God telling us, “Be not afraid”.
April 18th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Certainly not to take a single thing from Ms. Boyle who, this week, has not only turned half the world on it’s head but also her own world…but let’s not burden her with what we think she might be or even what we may want her to be. Let her..and us…enjoy her incredible success thus far and wish her much more in the future with the fervent hopes that no-one changes her, either by word or deed. Ms. Boyle seems to be a humble, unassuming woman. Life may not always have been kind to her, she has this beautiful gift she has shared with everyone who has seen her sing and not just this past week following the contest beginnings and I think we are all grateful for it, delighted for and proud of her for never letting her dream wither.
April 19th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Very inspiring (coming from someone who is also 47 and still chasing dreams). What gave me the most joy in watching the audition was how Susan Boyle stood up to the condescending taunt from Simon Cowell. The man had nothing but contempt for her until she opened her mouth to sing.
April 19th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Let’s face it. The only reason anyone took notice of this woman’s performance is because she is so unattractive. It’s ridiculous to assume that ugly people can’t be talented singers, but it springs up from the fact that most of the media hyped stars we are familiar with are in fact beautiful people. It’s a vicious cycle really. The only people who get marketed are the ones who are physically attractive, so we assume you must be physically attractive to be talented. Obviously there are exceptions for extraordinary talent.
I do not think Susan Boyle is an extraordinary talent. She just caught a lot of people by surprise. Paul Potts, a contestant who won the same show a couple years ago is much better than she is. His performance actually moved me to tears. When I saw Susan’s I wasn’t particularly impressed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
April 20th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Bill,
I’d like to bring to your attention that people are actually reading and responding to this blog posting. Why do you think that might be? Look back at your last 3 months worth of posts. How many comments do they have? How is this post different than what you’ve been doing recently?
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I too, was moved to tears by Miss Boyles’ singing. I agree Bill with you when you refer to her as an unassuming presence. Too bad that some of human kind does not have a bit of unassumability in them. To quote Louie Armstrong, “What a Wonderful World” this would be. Amen