Have We Been Desperately Seeking Susan?

The phenomenon of the week, maybe a long time to come, is Susan Boyle. If you've had any contact with the outside world you know she's the Scottish unemployed 47 year old woman who's had people weeping with an emotion they haven't touched in a while. With something like 80 million views of the Youtube clips from her audition on "Britain's Got Talent", a combined media frenzy over her from the internet to all other media and back and the attention of anyone who's seen those clips, she's something extraordinary. If you haven't seen it go do so. Just put her name in the youtube search and click on the one w/ something like 30 million hits. It's the best version.

If that performance doesn't effect you, you must be on heavy drugs.

Her celebrity comes timely. Obama, gay marriage, Susan Boyle. Hopes. People are into hope, it seems. Equality is a running theme too. Bigotry over skin color, sex orientation and now appearances are getting spotlights shined into their murky caves and flashing mirrors at the Neanderthals who espouse that shit. It's nice.

My take on the big picture is that fear has been ingrained in folks to a huge degree. Some pointed at it and used reason. Some cried and recovered to an extent. Some are fearless and just kept their eyes open. But an enormous number of people clung to fear and still are. It's not just the states, it's all over the world. We are a world full of PTSD survivors. It's left scars. It's left a mess; total insecurity, lost faith in one's government, miles of dead bodies everywhere, a dozen channels broadcasting sensationalized news. Soon we had ranting couch potatoes ranting over what they were told to rant about. "Why think? These guys say they're fair and balanced and they've done the thinking. They know better than I do about these things. They make more money than me." It's also the same thing with those who are hanging onto the jingoist and intolerant abusive religious crap. It's all about fear. Come on, people.

But humanity has one saving grace that's inevitable, and that's change. Nothing lasts forever. Nobody can live in fear forever. I don't believe we're a whole world full of cowards. That's not us, the human race. I think we're in varying stages of PTSD and folks are working it out best they can. Cautious optimism blooms like crocus in Spring. Fearfully we are scoping for heroes. Role models. Somebody who's like us, not a WASP (Ivy leagued of course), nor perfectly fit and youthful and gorgeous of face, nor fawned on. People like us who had the talent but not the look. People who held personal responsibilties more important than their dreams seemed to be. People who never lost that seed of hope and carried it. That's humanity, not cowards. And when we honor and realize that we have that inate heart of mercy, man can we move mountains.

We are having surprising wins. People are going back to religion and spirituality, reclaiming it from abandonment to the fringe ends of the Bell Curve. Taking Step 2, some would say. The Age of Aquarius others say. A society in PTSD; a recovering nation takes Step 2 in bizarre and wonderful ways. Hope. Are hearts opening? Have we just been desperately seeking Susan to remind us of who we really are? Or are we with Mulder, and Want To Believe? It all sounds good to me, like Susan's singing.