[SHANNON]: Why do you think 100 million plus people viewed Susan Boyle’s audition on Britain's Got Talent?
[SEAN]: Comments from the judges like, “Reeling from shock... Biggest wake-up call ever... A complete privilege... Extraordinary,” demand a bigger, more precise and important question: ‘Why were most of us immediately brought to tears by her performance? - And not tears of sadness or joy, but of relief and amazement’.
Scrutiny of the very dark hour our world faces stays mostly quiet - Palestinian babies exploding daily, Pakistan villages smart bombed, Dyncorp and Halliburton sex slave trade scandals, Iraqi torture camps remain open, skyrocketing unemployment, home invasion and seizures by the banksters, food shortages, vaccine induced autism - yet we are compelled, even trained, to rush cynically with severe judgment and insults at the sight of a middle-aged single women with short disorderly hair, frizzy eyebrows and bulky awkward proportions. As certainly as spilled wine will attract pests is as undoubtedly as this frumpy dumply church lady of an inconsequential Scottish village would attract rolling eyes and cruel, teasing laughter from the awaiting audience. But Susan stood down the crowd’s predetermined ridicule with a ‘cheeky grin’. She knew better. She had a gift to share. Her secure, ardent, 'smashing' voice hits the microphone and tears stream our faces because we are both relieved and amazed to find our programming was wrong. Innocence isn’t ugly.
If Susan’s performance wasn’t a touch from God, an angel reminding us all that the voice within us is right, that life isn’t a beauty pageant - enjoyed by few - but life is instead a pageant of beauty - all of us blessed - then why did it feel that way?
I say 100 million watched to hear God answer our desperate prayers begging for a guardian spirit, a guiding influence, a healing messenger, an angel of mercy to get us through these jagged and corrupt times. Thank you God for your grace! May we recognize it?
[SHANNON]: Indeed! The shock of Susan’s voice melted away many layers of joust in me to find rivers of awe. What a triumph! She endured a less than opportune life to send one heavenly cheer to all of us. Bless her!
[SEAN]: And may we never again judge religious, political, social, ethnic, cosmetic, and class differences with unwarranted taunts, bullets and cancer shots! May we have the strength to seek conscious change over conformity! May our silent prayers of dissent against tyranny become acts of civil disobedience!
“I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high,
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid
When dreams were made and used,
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung,
No wine untasted.
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dreams to shame.
And still I dream he'll come to me
And we will live our lives together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather...
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.”
- I dreamed a dream, Les Miserables.
