What If Susan Boyle Was A Lousy Singer?

The Susan Boyle story is one that brings tears to the eyes of anyone that watches the video. She is the epitome of a classic underdog story. Susan proves the old saying, don't judge a book by the cover, to be true. When I first placed a link to the video of her singing "I Had a Dream" from Les Miserables for the audience of the television program "Britain's Got Talent," on Political Pistachio Videos (posted April 12th), the response in the form of hits was astronomical. Everyone I talked to about the video was touched deeply, and couldn't say enough about how inspirational of a feel-good story it was.

The video is remarkable in many ways. Susan Boyle is inarticulate in her speech, and almost cartoonish in her image. As she prepares to audition for the show in front of three judges (including Simon Cowell), and an audience that, upon first glance of her are rolling their eyes and laughing at her, she simply smiles and proceeds forward with confidence. Susan Boyle, in her raggy hair, dowdy dress, and with bushy eyebrows, never missed a beat. After proclaiming her dream was to become as big as Elaine Paige, a popular British singer, she delivered a performance that had the crowd cheering, on their feet in ovation, and a performance that elicited one of the judges to say it was the biggest surprise of his lifetime. Tears streamed down the cheeks of some of the folks in the audience. She went from laughing stock to inspirational success story by simply singing a song.

But, what if Susan Boyle was a lousy singer? Would she have been mocked, humiliated, and laughed at publicly?

So much for political correctness working.

Political correctness is selective, it seems. Social pressure to be sensitive apparently only applies to race, gender, religion (unless you are Christian), ethnicity, creed, or sexual lifestyle. Judging by the treatment of Susan Boyle before she began to sing, however, being politically correct does not apply to frumpy white women.

As much as we admire Susan Boyle for proving everyone wrong, the reality of it is that she should not have had to prove anyone wrong. Compassion should not be decided upon by society's attempt to moralize, using secular standards as the guide. I realize that in this world of uncivility it seems necessary to force people to be responsible, compassionate, and fair. But true compassion does not come from political correctness, or governmental programs. True compassion comes from the heart and soul, and from a willingness to love one another as commanded by God.

Susan Boyle does not deserve admiration because, despite her image, she could belt out a powerful performance on a television show. She deserves our admiration because as an individual she took a chance with her remarkable ability, and because the story of her life, which includes caring for ailing parents, is one of pure selflessness.

We should all take a lesson from Susan Boyle.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary