I could forgive you if you haven’t the faintest idea on who Susan Boyle is. Oh well, if Susan Boyle had not stepped onto the stage to audition for Simon Cowell’s TV reality show X-Factor, she may very well be sitting at home right now with her cat in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland.
The truth is she isn’t at home – she has become an international superstar. A star born when she obliterated a stunned audience into silence by singing her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables. When she said she wanted to be like Elaine Paige you could hear an audible snicker throughout the crowd but no one was laughing at the end of her performance. They were simply stunned and feeling a little silly about themselves!
Susan Boyle eventually lost in the finals to a deserving champion, the dance troupe Diversity. I say this because the X-Factor is not a popularity contest, it is a talent quest and Diversity is exactly that, a group of talented young men who have blended their skills in ways you have to see to believe.
Ultimately, however, Susan Boyle would go on to super stardom. Outselling Whitney Houston is no joke and is nothing short of phenomenal. Her first X-Factor audition has been watched on Youtube by a record setting 10 million viewers on 11th April 2009. Post X-Factor and Susan Boyle is living the dream.
Why would I write about an international superstar? Firstly, I am inspired by her story and I feel she has been the best modern day example of how simplicity and self belief can be the perfect ingredient to success. Secondly, I have the strongest desire to see Solomon Islanders succeed in whatever way they can. I sincerely believe there is no reason for failure if we all realize that our nation’s greatest strength lies in the “sum of its parts”. We are as individuals, the many different parts who can make that wholesome difference – if one should shirk from that responsibility, we as a nation will never get anywhere.
I take a keen interest in observing young people and I feel many young people in the Solomon Islands mistakenly believe you can only make a difference if you have money. Nothing could be further from the truth – we make a difference in life because we believe we can make changes for the better.
The truth is there is a Susan Boyle in each of us; the secret is embracing it and then going out of your way to achieving your dreams. I remember a wise old men who once told me “I knew I would never become rich but I discovered my love for carpentry and woodwork. I set out to be the best carpenter there ever was and I think my life story tells of that fact. People I meet and have worked for have all told me that I was the best carpenter who has ever worked for them. That is more meaningful to me than being rich and famous.”
This is what Susan Boyle has said of her experience. “I think I’m entertaining people,” she says. “I’m inspiring a lot of people. What people have written to me about how much I have inspired [them] … I’d like to keep on doing that for as long as it lasts.”
Solomon Islanders can start by inspiring each other, searching for our commonalities rather then dwelling on our differences. Discovering the Susan Boyle in each of us – that confidence that you can make a positive difference in someone’s life – be it your brother, sister, father, mother, relative or better still a fellow Solomon Islander.