Lesson Learned

Well the world learned a lesson this week about not judging a book by its cover. If you are on of the few who haven't seen Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent then stop reading this blog right now and go to youtube, watch the video there and come back. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY See you in 7 minutes.

O.k. now that we are all on the same page, I want to ask you this – When you first saw her and her introductory remarks at the beginning, what did you think? You thought the same thing as everyone else in the audience that night. Here we go again. Here is someone who is going to make our ears bleed and be dragged off the stage screaming that she has what it takes to sing professionally when clearly she does not. Right? That what you thought. That's what I thought. What a pleasant surprise.

Whether we want to admit it or not we all do this every day. We see someone who does not match up with our perception of what we think is right, or beautiful or smart or whatever and that snap reaction colours our dealings with that person from then on. I thought the same thing as everyone in that audience. What could this person possibly show us. The editing in the program did not help. It played into the first impression we had and helped to add to the surprise. The two backstage hosts obviously knew what was up.

What Susan Boyle showed not only us but the whole world is that no matter what the package, the gifts that we have on the inside are more important than the wrapping. Next time I find myself coming to a snap judgement about someone I will think about Susan Boyle and hopefully deal with the person differently. Thanks Ms. Boyle – Lesson learned.