Susan Boyle, Part Deux

When un-plucked, un-tweezed and un-Botoxed Susan Boyle walked out on stage last week and answered Simon Cowell's questions about her dreams of becoming a singer, the audience jeered and a few men even whistled and threw out catcalls, while Ms. Boyle kept up her cheerful banter.

When I saw her on U-Tube along with 35 million others, I knew that this was someone who had known her share of schoolyard taunts and bullies. What I didn't know is that she had been deprived of oxygen at birth, which caused a learning disability, or that she had gone on the show to fulfill a promise to her mother who died two years ago and who Susan had lived with and cared for, or that had "never been kissed."

Then came that wretched first note and a song so chock full of emotion, it made me cry each time I heard it, and I heard it plenty.

Aside from having talent, part of the pull lies in the fact that beneath the exterior of someone most people wouldn't have given a passing glance to if they saw her on the street, is someone with a poet's soul and a heart of gold. Her ascent to Internet superstardom is almost a slap in the face to the women who opt for surgery and Botox or pose for Playboy when this dark horse comes trotting out, turns it all upside down and blows everything away. Like one of the show's judges, Amanda Holden, said, "it is a wake up call."

Susan had things that some of us don't have like a support system and those who believed in her and cheered her on. In her case, it was her mother and her voice coach, Fred O'Neil, who both encouraged her to audition for the show. And that is why it is important to find people who believe in you and who will see your talent and encourage you during those moments when doubt starts to seep in.

In the end, Susan Boyle is getting the last laugh, like Steven Spielberg and others who've been scarred by bullies yet somehow manage to get past them to win. She is the underdog, the Rocky Balboa of the music world, the one whose success gives us hope, and she is the one we will cheer for as she hits that ball over the fence and out of the park the next time she sings another wretched first note.