Susan Boyle: It's Never Too Late

If you haven’t already seen it, check out this YouTube video of Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent 2009. Embedding was disabled for this 12 million plus viewed video, so you’ll need to click on the colored, underlined text to see it. While you’re watching, check the faces and expressions of the judges and the audience and think about your own first reaction to the contestant.

I confess that I was as skeptical as the audience and judges. You know if 12 million people check out a YouTube video in a week, there’s something incredibly good or bad about it, one way or another. When Susan Boyle began to sing, tears came to my eyes. My next reaction was that perhaps it was a hoax. “How could someone with that voice not be discovered?” I asked my husband Jim. He suggested that maybe she had been living out her life in a little village and never had a chance to pursue a career.

It turns out Jim was right on the money. Susan, 47, had lived with and been caring for her mother in the village of Blackburn in Scotland. Her dream was to offer a tribute to her mother who passed away a year or so ago. You can watch a video interview of her on CBS’ Early Show. What a wake-up call!

We all know the axiom “never judge a book by its cover.” Susan Boyle also reminds us of that other wise old saying:

“It's never too late to be who you might have been.”
George Eliot
English novelist (1819 - 1880)

Donna