Looks are only skin deep

Did you see Susan Boyle the other week on Britain's Got Talent? I don't watch the programme but was prompted to take a look at her performance on youtube, or is it utube, by all the media hype about it. I was mesmerised by the sound that came out of her mouth, a beautiful voice so full of warmth and charm. And the look on the faces of those who were gobsmacked that such a plain woman could produce an enchanting sound, it brought tears to my eyes.

I watched it several times, and each time feeling the same emotion as I felt the first time. What made me smile was the fact that no one expected her to be able to sing a note in tune, well she showed them didn't she?

And again, while watching the Apprentice this week, Lorainne, one of the contestants, and no beauty, was ignored and ridiculed yet again by her fellow contestants. No one listened to her when she had made a perfectly valid point, that the carpet they had to sell was probably worth a lot of money. During the time in the boardroom. Margaret, Alan Sugar's assistant, came to her rescue and said she was a Cassandra. I admit that I didn't know what she meant, Margaret explained and I looked it up in the dictionary. Cassandra....You know the answer but no one listens, prophecies of doom are unheeded. Lorraine knew that the carpet shouldn't be sold for such a fraction of what it was worth, but no one listened.

I can relate to the struggles these women are encountering, because I am not a beauty either, and I had to fight for years to be taken seriously, to be listened to, and to be accepted as an HGV driver. I believe it was because of my looks. Plain women don't feature on the front cover of a magazine, they are overlooked when applying for work, they do get passed by for promotion, sales assistants do ignore you in a shop, and people push past you in a queue. It's as if you are invisible.

Sorry if you think this topic a bit serious for my normally jolly blog, but it's been on my mind. I shall be willing Susan to win Britains Got Talent and meet the queen, and Lorraine to win The Apprentice and get her dream job with Sir Alan. All power to plain ordinary women everywhere, let's judge people by what they can do, and not by how they look.