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Annie Fox, M.Ed., is an internationally respected parenting expert, award-winning author, and a trusted online adviser for tweens and teens.

Thank you, Susan Boyle

April 15, 2009

It happened Saturday night. Though I didn’t get wind of it until today when Eileen’s email pointed me to YouTube. Usually she sends videos of grateful whales being cut loose from fishing nets. Last month it was a hugging wall. Eileen’s got a big heart so she’s into that stuff. She also knows I’m a sucker. Invite me into the We Are All One Zone and I’m so there, heart crowding my tonsils, eyes brimming over, smiling like a fool at the screen.

Sure I’m on a deadline, but when Eileen sent her most recent bait, I bit. Don’t ever want to get too busy to feel good for a minute. That’s what I expected. What I didn’t expect was a transcendent experience on the level of Cosmic Unity and Universal Compassion. I kid you not. It was… but wait. Let me shut up for a minute so you can take it in for yourself:

Susan Boyle singing on Britain's Got Talent

Susan Boyle singing on Britain's Got Talent

OK, now you’ve seen it. So what the hell happened in that auditorium? Why did those 4,000 people plus the rest of us change our minds so dramatically? We were all convinced that Susan Boyle was worthy of ridicule. How did her voice instantly turn a cynical crowd into a single beating heart that couldn’t contain itself with joy, love, encouragement and yes, gratitude?

I’m thinking that you’ve probably got a theory. Love to hear it. In the meantime, here’s mine: We look at that plain woman’s frizzy gray hair, bushy eyebrows, double chin and our assumptions kick in. We roll our eyes and feel giddy at the expectation that we’d  see Simon Cowell eviscerate her. But with the first note of her song all snarky resistance vanishes. Instead we actually see Susan Boyle standing there. And we see ourselves. She singing about our longing. Our dreams and disappointments. We open to her radiant true nature and to our own. There is no other option. She is us. We get it. Thanks, Susan.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch that video again.

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