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Now the whole world knows who Susan Boyle is, a forty-seven year old woman who spent her life living with her mother and her cats (until her mother recently passed away). She sang karaoke at local pubs though her dream was to be a professional singer.

When she walked on stage during the Britain's Got Talent show, the audience laughed, the judges were cynical. Why? Because she looked like a forty-seven year old spinster. When she responded to a question saying she had never been married and never been kissed, the audience laughed some more. They didn't expect much from this outcast.

No one was prepared for what came next. She shocked everyone with her spectacular rendition of I Dreamed a Dream'. The audience was stunned and moved to tears. She's become an overnight sensation, her video on You Tube being viewed over eleven million times.

Susan Boyle is the reason you should never judge a book by its cover.

We're being bombarded with beautiful people on television, in movies, magazines and music videos. As a result we're being programmed to judge people based on their looks, leaving us feeling less than perfect and worse, inadequate.

There's much talk about racism and prejudice. Prejudice against Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and gays; but there is another kind of prejudice that occurs everyday, Looksism'. All of us witness it and sadly, many are guilty of it.

Most are unaware they're doing it. For example, how many times have you seen an obese person eating ice-cream and think to yourself or say to someone else, "No wonder they're the size they are." You cast judgment never knowing the medical or emotional issues that have caused them to be the size they are. Given a choice do you think they would choose to live that way or opt to live life as one of the beautiful people?

Have you ever passed a teenager on the street who had piercings or tattoos, and you turned the other way, labeling them a freak? My son is the kindest most caring person you could ever know. He's had a Mohawk cut; he's shaved his head and dyed his long hair black. He has a tattoo and wants another. Nothing he does to alter his appearance on the outside will ever change the wonderful guy he is, but it will change how others perceive him and sadly the way he's treated.

I dated a guy who was shorter than me with a stocky build. I'm the girl who when asked to pick the sexiest man, named Ed Asner. (Remember, Mary Tyler Moore?) My boyfriend was a kind, loving guy with an incredible sense of humour, which attracted

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