A Big Wake-Up Call

by Chris Seow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

I watched this video last week and I was surprised by how moved I was. Yes, call it over-hyped, or say that 'her voice isn't THAT amazing', but I think we all have a little bit to learn from this. Is susan boyle ugly? or are we? thats the questions ringing in british tabloids, and questions that we should dig deep into. Seeing how the crowd, and even many of us watching on youtube ( I too am guilty), misjudged susan with an immediate assumption that she was bound to be another 'william hung', indeed shows the decadence of our society. This is, as judge Amanda so well put into words, 'a big wake-up call'.

I admit I'm really running on emotions here, but I would not be ashamed to be associated with this big brouhaha regarding susan boyle. As the people of God, we are called to be not of this world, we are called to see in the eyes of Jesus. So often we neglect it, with our stereotyping and labeling. We do it everywhere, from the casual conversations to the prayer meetings. I think this is something we are all very aware of.

But another underlying question would be, did susan boyle have to open her mouth and display her power voice before we gave her a chance, a little respect as a fellow human? After all, if susan did not 'redeem' herself with her voice, the world would have dismissed her as a wanna-be or a weirdo, or even dissed her and laughed at her.

But angelic voice OR NOT, susan boyle is God's beautiful child, and she is a delightful jewel in Jesus eyes. We need to even go beyond what the world is saying now about not judging a book by its cover, its more than that. We need to love unconditionally, challenge ourselves to be more Christ-like. To put it plainly, we have to love not just the Susan Boyles but the William Hungs as well. I do not support the crowd's reaction, before AND after she sang, but I just think this video serves as a good reminder to all of us, to cut out the stereotyping, labeling, belittling, mocking, for in the kingdom of God there is NO SUCH THING.