Don’t be too quick in judging someone
A friend of mine sent me this Youtube video the other day. It’s about the talent show “Britains Got Talent 2009″. There’s this 47 years old unemployed lady named Susan Boyle who came from a village in Blackburn area, wanting to be a famous singer and believed that she can rock the audience.
Ok, before you proceed, try go to the link and watch the video.
After watching the video, I must admit that I’m actually one of the people who looked down on her and even laughed at her remarks (the one in the beginning…and also the shaking of her butt =_=). Well, because every time we see something like this, that person will surely surprise us with his/her level of confidence and also the hopeless talent which came together. We’ve seen that on quite a number of occasions.
But this time, I’m feeling ashamed of myself. When this lady said the things she’d said in the beginning of the performance, she really meant it. She’s very confident with herself, and rightly so. She can really sing….heck, she can even be the champion if she continues like this. She really reminds me of Paul Potts in the previous Britains Got Talent.
Then I realized this – people tend to underestimate others a bit too much. “What? This new guy is trying to take over my place? Who does he think he is?” or “Whoa, this kid is too confident with himself. I doubt he can come out with anything good”.
The thing is, how can we be sure that these individuals are nothing but empty cans, when we ourselves have never witnessed their work/performance/talent? How can we be so fast to judge or even discriminate people? Just because of something they’ve said or how they look? There’s nothing wrong for one to be confident about one’s ability. Nothing wrong with it at all.
Seriously, what this lady did has really touched my heart (and changed a part of me). And I hope the video has touched yours too.
From now onwards, I will try my best to allow people to show what they have to show, without discriminating and without jumping into conclusion too fast. 
I also believe that if everyone is willing to try to do that, we’ll be able to make this a better world.
we judge and stereotype ppl on first impressions. this is human nature i guess.
only after that we might change our perception of that person based on what we learn further of him/her.
calvaryzone
16 Apr 09 at 11:14 am
Here’s a few tweets I picked out from twitter:
- how the simple dowdy lady showed the world how unimportant looks are.
- nice 7 mins of my life.
- one of the most uplifting moments of human spirit in a long time.
- millions of people see themselves in her: undiscovered, humble, and a better singer than Britney!
- do you think maybe someone is trying to tell us something?
- I can’t stop thinking about how the simple dowdy lady showed the world how unimportant looks are.
- Never judge a book by its cover…you may miss the best novel ever
- i’m tearing over this susan boyle woman http://tinyurl.com/c49rgl (expand) but she must never do that hip thing again.
I actually saw her video yesterday and was completely impressed. Even William Hung didn’t get 9 million Youtube hits in a couple of days.
Damien Tan
16 Apr 09 at 11:23 am
@ calvaryzone
mmm, actually i do believe in gut feeling. sometimes, when you meet someone who is very pleasant, but there is this unexplainable feeling which tells u this fella is a screwed up fella. :p
and i believe this kind of gut feeling can be developed. it just need more experience and exposure
@ Damien
it shows that there is still some hopes left for people who are unemployed, old, not talented, etc etc.
Yeap, anyone who can bring hope to others, will actually become very popular …esp when the whole world is feeling hopeless and demotivated.
By the way, din know you’re on Twitter as well. LOL.
Alvin Lim
16 Apr 09 at 6:14 pm