Susan Boyle and Erroneous Assumptions

You've probably heard the buzz about the 47-year-old woman who wowed the judges on a British TV show similar to American Idol. Her name is Susan Boyle.

The video clip is posted at YouTube but it wouldn't let me embed it so here's the url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z0h1NNk1Ik if you'd like to view it. Or go to YouTube and input Susan Boyle--there are several versions.

She's amazing. Her voice is so clear and so gorgeous. Breath-taking really. Inspiring. Brought me to tears. It was obvious that no one expected that voice to come out of her. Why? Because we're all so shallow to think that only "beautiful" people can have such a voice.

What a shame that we miss out on so many people and their talents simply because they don't fit into our definition of pretty or beautiful or cool or ________ . We judge others by the way they look. We make assumptions about intelligence, social ranking, economic status, and talents based on how we perceive someone else's physical beauty or, in our opinion, lack of it.

For example, a large, multi-level marketing company, advises its salespeople to buy a Cadillac and make sure to drive the Cadillac to appointments so potential customers will assume they make a lot of money selling their products and will want to sell the products as well. After all, it's the appearance that matters.

We are a visually stimulated people and because of that we make erroneous assumptions. Susan Boyle proved it perfectly when she sang. The looks on the judges faces was priceless as they realized their mistaken judgment of this woman's talent.

I hope Susan Boyle will become super successful. Even more, I hope people will realize that you can't judge a book by its cover. Bravo, Susan Boyle.

Jessica Simpson and Mom Jeans

Have you seen all the criticism of Jessica Simpson since she's gained some weight? It's ridiculous. Our society is so obsessed with weight and physical looks. Jessica Simpson is a beautiful woman, yet all the media can do is focus on her weight gain. It's especially ridiculous because even with her weight gain, she's still thinner than the majority of women in the US. What message does that send? Are those of us who wear more than a size 6 not worthy to live in our society?

Where's the emphasis on healthy eating or a healthy lifestyle? Why does thin equal healthy? The message the media sends to our teenage girls is that if they aren't skinny they're basically worthless (yes, I have teenage daughters and this does affect them even though I try really hard to counteract it). That couldn't be further from the truth.

All of us have gifts and talents to share no matter what size we are. We are all children of Heavenly Father and he loves each of us. Why can't we focus on what's inside of us instead of what's outside? Let's concentrate on developing compassion, unconditional love, faith, obedience, and those things that will lead us back to Heavenly Father. I really don't think he'll pull out a scale and ask us to stand on it on judgment day.

Yes, it's important to exercise and eat healthy just like we've been counseled. It's important to maintain a healthy weight--not an unrealistic weight--and to take care of our bodies. But, it's something completely different when we're consumed with our weight and/or physical appearance. We should do our best to get and stay in shape and eat good foods, but then we need to find joy in who we are and love ourselves no matter what the scale says.

And the mom jeans? Yep, I wear mom jeans and proud of it. Here's a little heads up on the whole mom jeans vs. hip huggers. Hip huggers don't look good on women and, in fact, look good on very few girls. Hip huggers create love handles and encourage belly fat to hang over the top of the pants. Not very attractive in my opinion. Give me mom jeans any day and let me keep my extra flesh inside my jeans instead of rolling over the top of them. I am more than my weight and more than my mom jeans. I am a daughter of God.

Jessica Simpson--you go, girl. You sing and perform and find joy in who you are. You look great. Don't let the media tell you any different.