I've been thinking about this all weekend, and now I have to blab about it.

Mojo is rather lucky in that she has always been a fairly good writer. She gets attention for it. She enjoys it, so she occasionally does it for other people who do NOT enjoy it, and they pay her a decent amount of money for the privilege of exploiting her gift.

When she was younger, I must admit that Mojo could sometimes get somewhat swept up in the snotty ego-trip that can come with the ability to do something well without too much effort. Like automatically (though silently) judging people on their ability to express themselves on paper, or even just their ability to spell. Don't worry, she's under continual treatment for it, to this day. One such treatment is her twenty-plus-year relationship with her Favorite Husband, a truly brilliant man who cannot spell worth a darn but who nonetheless has much to offer the world. It boggles Mojo's tiny brain. Go figure.

Anyway, having a talent or gift really smoothes the path, I've discovered. You get this sense of specialness and privilege, which can degrade into a pervasive, nasty air of entitlement if you let it. Look at the occasional sports person, gifted in some ability to catch or throw or hit a ball, who somehow feels this entitles him or her to treat others badly, or do something equally vile to get attention, no matter how negative. Or actors, for that matter. Or politicians. Or OTHER, less SAINTLY writers than our beloved Mojo. You get my drift.

Somehow society has equated having a gift with being a good human being, and oftentimes this is not true. Not to say that ALL gifted people are scoundrels, only that just because you can play an instrument or hit a ball or give really good speeches and everyone makes a big fuss over you, it does not AUTOMATICALLY make you a good person. Just because the Powers That Be give you ONE such attribute, it certainly doesn't mean you're playing with a full deck of virtues. This comes as no surprise to anyone who follows the exploits of the rich and famous and gifted and inexplicably seedy. I need not go there, do I?

And now we have the brouhaha over Susan Boyle. The ordinary person who defied the odds and cultural stereotypes and became an overnight sensation. She appears to be a lovely, kind, forgiving person. And yes, she can sing beautifully. Along with everyone else in the world, I too was instantly charmed by her obvious class when faced with a skeptical, downright snarky crowd. She shared her gift anyway and made her detractors seriously regret their eye rolls and sneers. Comeuppance at its finest. A triumph.

And yet. As my Favorite Husband, the eternal, moment-spoiling soul-crushing realist, pointed out, what if she WEREN'T a good singer? What if she were just another infamous "Idol" train wreck? The very people now singing her praises and lauding her underdog story would have reveled--positively REVELED--in degrading, abusing and humiliating this obviously kind woman who clearly does not deserve such treatment. They are only paying attention to her, my Favorite Husband said, because she CAN sing. If she couldn't, those gushing about her would be laughing at her and throwing tomatoes, or--more likely--they would have already forgotten her, like all the other "American Idol" train wrecks that make the commercials.

It is not Susan Boyle's singing that should be praised, lovely though it is. It is her obvious humanity and kindness that I liked to see. Her love for her parents; her love for her silly cat; her upretentiousness. Her accomplishment is being a fellow imperfect creature, brave enough to stand on stage amidst the titters and catcalls from other imperfect creatures who did not recognize their imperfection. She was able to silence them into shame by virtue of this one great gift.

But if it had turned out she didn't have that gift, what then? What of the caring for her ailing parents, her employment woes, her cat, her "cheeky" desire to be like Elaine Paige? (How DARE she!)

I wish I could say that society, including myself, has learned a Valuable Lesson here. But we haven't. Susan Boyle is the toast of the world ONLY because she can sing. Sing beautifully, to be sure, but it's because she can sing and nothing else. Her other fine, fine attributes are just the icing on the cake. Would be that it could ever be the other way around? That people could get praise for being a nice person, and the talent part could be the icing?

Naahh. If we had to treat people with respect JUST FOR BEING NICE we'd have to treat MOST people decently. And THAT would just be SUCH a burden for poor Mojo to endure. Not to mention a slippery slope. Heck, if we HAD to be nice to nice people, what next? Nice to people we disagree with, instead of continuing to insist they are the very SPAWN OF SATAN? Nice to TOTAL STRANGERS on the street? Nice to (*gasp!*) TELEMARKETERS?

So I say, good for Susan Boyle for her ability to sing. It makes it SO much easier to be nice to her, apparently....

Mojo