| Big Damn Heroes, Middle-Aged Glaswegian Woman Edition |
 Big Damn Heroes, Middle-Aged Glaswegian Woman Edition
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May. 2nd, 2009 @ 03:37 pm 
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I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
I'm sitting home alone, and I'm bawling. My housemates are all out looking at formalwear, and nobody I know seems to be online.
I've been hearing vague mentions of some woman named Susan Boyle - "even odder than Paul Potts", apparently. I decided to get around to finding out what people were talking about, and looked her up on YouTube.
Which turned up this.
She sang I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables, which would be pretty heartbreaking, except I'd also scanned her Wikipedia biography, which is a pretty heartbreaking story that combined with those lyrics to tear me to sobbing pieces.
She was the youngest of ten children. Born when her mother was 47, oxygen-deprived at birth, bullied at school and nicknamed 'Susie Simple'. Attended Edinburgh Acting School but left to look after her ailing mother. Did that until her mother died. Tried to become a singer before, but had given up on that after being rejected and in some cases mocked for even trying. (After all, look at her... she's so dumpy and plain, right?) On stage before she sang she looked nervous and awkward and weird.
Almost gave up on even trying Britain's Got Talent, but her mother had so wanted her to do it... so after her mother died, she decided to try, in tribute, though it still took persuasion from her voice coach because she felt too old. She's 47 now and she's been employed for six months in her life - the rest has been occasional government training courses, volunteering for her church, and looking after her mother. People still make fun of her and call her names, because she lives alone with her cat since her mother died.
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed
And she walked out on stage, and the massive crowd and judges radiated: who does this old bag think she is? A middle-aged spinster who lives with a cat named Pebbles in a tiny village in Scotland? Who has to pause in her intro to remember a word like "villages" (she's been diagnosed with learning disabilities, and we all knows that's code for stupid and subhuman, right?) and reacts weirdly to people laughing when she admits her age? How dare she?
She says she wants to be a professional singer and the audience titters.
In the teeth of that, she sings with strength and surety and what sounds like confidence. And she doesn't break as the sneers turn to a standing ovation.
I feel ashamed that I've ever thought my dreams were gone because I'm all of 28.
At the same time I think the people who still make derisive comments about how weird she is should be ashamed of themselves too, because after a life like that, to be standing there with dreams intact and the strength to get through going on stage? She's a hero.Current Mood: awestruck Current Music: Susan Boyle - I Dreamed A Dream
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Amen to that; I too was so touched by her story. Why is it that only 'beautiful' people are assumed to be talented or worthy? Whatever happened to 'you can't judge a book by its cover'? And even if the woman couldn't sing a NOTE right, she still deserves to be treated with respect and dignity because she is a human being. I am divorced and choose to remain single, am 47 and frumpy, too, and I CAN'T sing like Susan can. I don't take care of a sick mother (I do have one, but she has my stepdad to care for her), but I AM guardian of my adult autistic daughter and I care for her daily needs and take her to all her doctors, etc. (She also has Turner Syndrome, diabetes, had a mild stroke, and has seizure disorder). So I suppose in one sense I can relate to Susan's story, as I understand the patience and sacrifice it takes to be fulltime caretaker for another person and to live more on the fringes rather than in the bustling middle of society. But even if I shared nothing in common with her at all, I still feel outraged on her behalf for the initial ridicule and cruelty heaped on her; then, when she proved she COULD sing like an angel, suddenly everyone adores her. Ah, fickle, foolish human nature, sigh.
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