by Consuelo Bernardi

Created on: May 09, 2009

In this celebrity obsessed world where the idea of 'perfection' is constantly attempted to be obtained, along comes an ordinary looking woman in her late 40s who gives our collective asses a much needed kick and forces us to remember that old adage 'don't judge a book by its cover.'

This clip was sent to me a few days ago by my friend Iain, but sadly in my Nintendo DS 'Rhythm Heaven' obsession trance-like state that I've been in the last week [that blog is coming] the email sat in my inbox unopened until yesterday. I am so glad that my husband reminded me to watch it...'you'll love it...really you will.' And I did. And at the center of it all is a single, unemployed, unhip, unglamourous woman, who lives alone in her home with her cat, in a village in Scotland.

Susan Boyle comes to the world stage via the BBC reality TV show, 'Britain's Got Talent'. By today's standards of 'image is everything' Susan missed all the memos. She is an A&R rep's worst packaging nightmare. Her eyebrows have never seen tweezers, her hair needs a full colour and hairstyling revamp, and her clothing in the style department would send Stacey and Clinton into full cardiac arrest on TLC's "What Not To Wear" [to say she's frumpy would be an understatement].

But why do these things really matter? It's a talent competition right? And her talent is singing. Isn't how she sings more important than how she looks? We all know the answer to the question but most of us have been programmed to be cynical and look at a woman like Susan Boyle and ignore any talent she might have and instead focus on everything that is wrong with the image that walks on to the stage.

You see the looks on the faces of audience members and judges when she confesses she has never been kissed and you hear the muffled laughs as she struggles for every word on stage. She looks painfully awkward and completely out of place on the concert stage. Or so you think. But when she begins her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream from the musical Les Miserables, everyone puts those initial judgements aside and is brought to their feet. Not one person is left sitting in their seats. For while she's singing she truly transforms herself into one of the most beautiful women you've ever seen. You look at her with a fresh new set of eyes...and that's a lesson we all need.

Susan is this year's Paul Potts. In those 7 minutes on stage she has given us a much needed reality check. She has become an overnight You Tube

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