Diamonds in the Rough

An uncomely middle-aged woman with a squeaky voice and clumsy manners, who has spent the past several years at home taking care of her elderly mother, steps on stage and states in no uncertain terms that her dream is to become a world-famous professional singer, which brings on sneers and snickers from both crowd and organizers. The music starts, and in less than 10 seconds the entire auditorium roars with a standing ovation. In a matter of days, her video on YouTube electrifies the world, with a record-breaking 100+ million hits and growing.

What has happened here? Susan Boyle not only sang beautifully. She single-handedly weakened the foundations of a massive structure, greater and more terrible than the Berlin wall. She questioned the commercial image of a successful person --one who fits the materialistic mold of the beautiful, rich and famous—which leaves the great masses of humanity out in the cold. She told all of us that although “life has killed the dream I dreamed”, although we may not seem like much on the outside, we are all diamonds in the rough, waiting for a chance to show the precious jewels hidden deep inside.

Perhaps all that is lacking for us to reveal those gems is for us to believe in our true inner potential. This is a belief that consumerism has all but destroyed in an attempt to convince us that our worth is measured by the stuff we have acquired, and not by who or what we are. While Susan Boyle has learned to pass beyond that awful, poisonous lie, little Connie Talbot hasn’t had time enough to learn it yet. So small and frail, with her missing front teeth and impish giggle, and yet when the music plays the angels start to sing!

When Connie says that she loves singing more than anything else in the world, that being on stage is a dream come true, that she doesn’t want it to end, and that if little birds fly can beyond the rainbow, then why not me, she is exemplifying an attitude that we could all have if we only gave ourselves permission to do so, one that somewhere along the way many of us seem to have lost. In the midst of the worst economic crisis the world has seen, Susan and Connie have stood up and brought humanity renewed hope in the future, and faith in itself.

I believe that what applies to Susan and Connie also applies to humanity as a whole. If believing in ourselves is essential on an individual level, it is even more so on the collective plane. When people are told often enough that they ARE a certain way, they tend to BECOME that way, and this applies to both individuals and to entire nations. A case in point:

For decades, we have been told by philosophy and the arts, by science and religion, by politicians and the mass media, that human beings are naturally aggressive, egotistical, violent, greedy, warlike creatures, that it is in our genes, in our collective conscience, in our very souls. As a society we have accepted this view so fully that we have come to believe that this innate nature makes it impossible for humanity to achieve a world in which justice, unity and peace prevail.

We have built all of our institution around this conflictive view of the world --political, economic, educational, religious, agricultural, etc.-- which has brought us to the world-wide crisis --political, economic, educational, religious, agricultural, etc.-- we are in now. However, If anyone offers a solution that does not take into account this supposed “human nature”, they are laughed down as utopians, dreamers, unrealistic, so our flawed institutions remain intact.

Many authors from different disciplines have shown this belief about human nature to be untrue, but it still permeates society so thoroughly that those voices go almost unheard in the din. And yet, many of us believe that until we are able to accept the fact that as a species we have the capacity for true empathy, caring, generosity, and cooperation, we will never be able to prevent the kinds of conflicts and crises we have brought upon ourselves over the past decades, and to achieve the kind of world that we all would like to live in or leave for our grandchildren.

May we, as a human race, find the path to show that behind all our present weakness and ugliness, there lies the capacity for unsuspected beauty, goodness and light.