![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Thoughts about Susan Boyle
Apr. 17th, 2009 08:44 amOK, I just had to give an opinion, and it's a little different from the popular one.
I did watch the clip, although I really hate reality shows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-KiGva9dV4
And it's true that the audience behaved badly, and the judges were cruel, and yes, the first part of the video showcased the audience's ugliness.
But there were other things in that video, too. Susan didn't just show them all. She brought a moment of transcendence and understanding to a group of people stuck in a terrible, bad place: a stunted place, an ugly place.
She brought healing, and understanding, for just a moment. And many have pointed out that this one moment will probably be insufficient to change who people are. There will still be meanness. There will still be cruelty.
But how do people change, except through many moments of understanding and transcendence strung together? How else can transformation happen?
It is easy, and even comforting, to express your anger at the people who treated Susan so badly. And it's good to speak your truth.
But let me ask you honestly...
Who among you has never been so cruel?
I have. I have been desperately, heart-wrenchingly, horribly cruel.
I have.
When I was small I remember standing in a ring with other children, taunting a poor little soul, sad and bereft, standing alone in the middle. We tormented her with the chant," You're mother's ugly! Your mother's ugly!"
And I remember with perfect clarity her face collapse, and her quiet, shaky voice say, "I know she's ugly."
I remember what I did and I will never, never forget it.
That moment has been a huge part of shaping who I am. That little girl was my teacher and my mentor, and at the age of 5 or 6, she set me on the path to becoming a minister and a Priestess at great personal cost. Partly because of her, I am a person trying every day to learn true compassion.
Have mercy, too, on the cruel. They are all of us.
I did watch the clip, although I really hate reality shows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-KiGva9dV4
And it's true that the audience behaved badly, and the judges were cruel, and yes, the first part of the video showcased the audience's ugliness.
But there were other things in that video, too. Susan didn't just show them all. She brought a moment of transcendence and understanding to a group of people stuck in a terrible, bad place: a stunted place, an ugly place.
She brought healing, and understanding, for just a moment. And many have pointed out that this one moment will probably be insufficient to change who people are. There will still be meanness. There will still be cruelty.
But how do people change, except through many moments of understanding and transcendence strung together? How else can transformation happen?
It is easy, and even comforting, to express your anger at the people who treated Susan so badly. And it's good to speak your truth.
But let me ask you honestly...
Who among you has never been so cruel?
I have. I have been desperately, heart-wrenchingly, horribly cruel.
I have.
When I was small I remember standing in a ring with other children, taunting a poor little soul, sad and bereft, standing alone in the middle. We tormented her with the chant," You're mother's ugly! Your mother's ugly!"
And I remember with perfect clarity her face collapse, and her quiet, shaky voice say, "I know she's ugly."
I remember what I did and I will never, never forget it.
That moment has been a huge part of shaping who I am. That little girl was my teacher and my mentor, and at the age of 5 or 6, she set me on the path to becoming a minister and a Priestess at great personal cost. Partly because of her, I am a person trying every day to learn true compassion.
Have mercy, too, on the cruel. They are all of us.
