Well fuck me i did not think I'd be watching the final of Britain's Got Talent on a Sunday evening (i wrote this a little while ago and left it in my drafts while a found a picture, then completely forgot about it). In total i watched one episode last week and the final tonight and it was actually very good. Not because Britain has proved itself a hotbed of musical and performing ability (there was an awful lot of crap in the episode i watched towards the beginning) but because of the raw human emotion on display and the fact that it illustrated one of life's greatest lessons.
Connie and Paul were by far and away the best acts on there and either could have won. Personally I'm glad it was Paul. But i think the real reason the both of them touched everyone was not because of their amazing talent . Connie was a reminder of innocence that we have all too easily forgotten, a snapshot of a time in your life when the world is a wondrous place and when anything was possible. "what do you want to be" was a completely open ended question and it was answered without reservation, hesitation or fear.
Paul Potts touched everyone because at the beginning of the show he was unsure, hesitant and afraid. Yet over the 9 days or so since the show started he grew in confidence and began to believe in his own abilities after seeing and sensing the reaction of the general public to his singing. The performances of both Connie and Paul told great stories, and that's why people loved them.
But i think the lesson lies in something else. For me, both Connie and Paul are examples of people doing something they love, not for any other reason than that they love it. They both truly love singing and they sing their fucking socks off with a palpable joy that jumps out of the screen and grabs you by the throat.
And if we take anything away from a"Britain's Got Talent" it should be this: nothing brings us more happiness than doing something we truly, intrinsically enjoy for its own sake. When was the last time we did something for no other reason than we truly, truly enjoyed it? Not to impress anyone, not to get fit or lose weight, not because it's the latest cool thing to do and we've seen it in Heat or on Coolhunting or in the Sunday Times magazine. But because we just love doing it. We should then ask ourselves why we do not do that thing more often.
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