I used to pose this question to my Sociology students:
Is a beautiful face important for one to be a recording artiste?
Of course, most of them argued that talent and vocal quality was more important than outward appearances.
My next question:
Name THREE female singers who are fat, ugly and have achieved international acclaim.
Silence. Nail-biting silence.
Can you think of any?
So often in life, we tend to judge people by their outward appearances - their looks, fashion sense, speech patterns, gait etc. Sometimes, one may even avoid someone just because one may not like the way she looks or talks etc.
Pity.
A real pity indeed.
Far too often, we miss out on many good things in a person if we do not look beneath the surface, if we allow our preconceived notions to cloud our judgement of that person and how we relate to him/her. I blogged about this issue in my post called Let's Always Look On the Inside and Susan Boyle is another reminder of this maxim.
Worse still, it would be a tragedy if we were to succumb to the dictates of peers or even wider society.
A few days ago, my blog reader who has since become a good friend, CK Saw, sent me a link to Susan Boyle's performance. Normally, I am most wary of links but coming from CK, I clicked on it and was greatly surprised.
When I first saw Susan Boyle, I was, like most people, amazed that despite her looks, she oozed with confidence for she did not let skeptical opinions or even the facial expressions of the audience deter her from moving forward to reach her dream...I am sure she will get there soon. When she opened her mouth to sing the first strains of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables, I was lost for words.
In early February 1994, I watched Les Miserables that was staged at Kallang Theatre, Singapore by Cameron Mackintosh Productions and the effect that Susan Boyle's voice had on me is truly greater than that of the lead singer then, despite the lack of ambiance in my family room.
As she gave her all in this song, making her statement that she wants to be like Elaine Page through her innocuous crystal-like, angelic crisp voice, truly, I was overcome with emotion.
I did not plan on doing a post on her until CK emailed me earlier this evening to check if I had seen the video and shared with me his reaction to her singing and how he had seen it so many times (like me too) and was deeply moved. Now, that set me thinking about sharing it this evening so I called CK ten minutes ago and asked if he would mind if I mentioned him in my post and of course, he had no objections and even gave me the green light to say anything :-).
Susan (a church worker, who admits she's never been kissed) entered the Britain's Got Talent competition after singing locally for years without being discovered. She bowled the judges over last Saturday with her rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables.
Between MSN Video and You Tube, her audition clip had two and a half million hits in the first 72 hours!
So dear blog reader, please set aside some time to watch and to listen to Susan Boyle and always remember to look beneath the surface to appreciate what lies within...More importantly, if you have a dream, reach out and make it come true!!!
Thanks CK for sharing this with us....
My sister-in-law sent me these photos which I compiled in the following slide presentation. Please wait a while for the file to be uploaded and click on the arrow to advance the slides. You will not be disappointed with these incredible pics! Enjoy....Have a lovely evening :-)
Incredible Pictures
Someone sent this to me via e-mail and I thought I'd share it with you to brighten your day. Use these at your own risk ;-).
1. I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position.
2. I’m not really out of the office. I’m just ignoring you.
3. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.
4. Sorry to have missed you but I am at the doctors having my brain removed so that I may be promoted to management level.
5. I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from vacation on 4/25. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.
6. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 or the first ten words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.
7. The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and try sending again.’
(The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many of them did this over and over).
8. Thank you for your message, which has been added toa queuing system. You are currently in 352ND place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.
9. Hi,I’m thinking about what you’ve just sent me. Please wait by you PC for my response.
10 Hi! I’m busy negotiating the salary for my new job. Don’t bother to leave me any message.
11 I’ve run away to join a different circus.
AND, FINALLY, THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE:
12 I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons.
When I return, please refer to me as ’Salmah’ instead of ‘Saiful’.
HAVE A NICE DAY!
According to Alan, age 10,
(1) You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
(2) No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with.
-Kirsten, age 10
WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
(1) Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.
-Camille, age 10
(2) No age is good to get married at. You got to be a fool to get married..
- Freddie, age 6 (very wise for his age)
HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
(1) You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.
- Derrick, age 8
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MUM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
(1) Both don't want any more kids.
- Lori, age 8
WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
(1) Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
- Lynnette, age 8 (isn't she a treasure)
(2) On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
- Martin, age 10 (who says boys do not have brains)
WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?
(1) I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.
-Craig, age 9
WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
(1) When they're rich.
- Pam, age 7
(2) The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that.
- Curt, age 7 (good point)
(3) The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do.
- Howard, age 8
IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
(1) It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.
- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)
HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
(1) There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there?
- Kelvin, age 8
And the #1 Favourite is........
HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
(1) Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck.
- Ricky, age 10
- All the above statements were written by kids -
