American Idols: Show Us How You Do It, Baby!

It's American Idol time again, the early stages where we watch Idol hopefuls as they seek that golden ticket to instant stardom. It's the part of the show where the good, the bad, and the ugly bring it all before America. They step up to grab their dream, and they sing loud and long and strong and, more often than not at this stage of the competition, very poorly. I assume much of the draw of this reality TV phenomenon has as much to do with watching the average Joe rise to stardom as it does with watching the average Joe appear to make an imbecile of himself or herself on national television.

I have seen those with the oddest of styles, the oddest of moves, those with no vocal talent and some perhaps tone deaf reach for that elusive golden ticket and come away with only the plain simple cold card of rejection. In the most recent episode, I watched Simon accuse one man of looking like a monkey and another of being drunk. At the same time, Paula sweetly took the time to look past a stream of total lack of Idol talent to encourage poor vocally challenged souls to find their true calling.

I don't watch this show because I enjoy watching Simon berate people on national television. Yes, I watch, and I can't help but laugh at those Britney Spears not-to-be's. I even laugh and ask myself "What in the world are they thinking?" and "Why didn't someone who knows and cares about this person prevent them from doing this to themselves on national television?" Yet at the same time, I'm glad such well-intentioned friends did not dissuade these hungry souls. Why? Because the true appeal of this show to me is that I truly enjoy watching folks with gallons of guts, fathoms of faith and stacks of self esteem get up there and give it their all. No matter how much they manage to contort their vocal chords before America, there is a lesson here for all of us.

It takes courage and an amazing amount of belief in self to stand up and say "Here I am, world. Give me a shot!" I don't care how delusional some contestants appear, they believe in themselves and they go beyond the "I ought to's." They bring it on, no holds barred, in front of a nation of friends, coworkers, and of course strangers who will undoubtedly recognize them during the next trip to the grocery store.

How many times in our lives do we think we might, or we could, or we ought to and then that critical voice in our heads slams on the breaks. "You want to do what?' Oh you can't do that! Who do you think you are? What if they say no? What if they laugh?" And we actually listen to this negative self-talk and do nothing. How sad. Even more sad, sometimes we let others tell us we can't or shouldn't.

What would happen if we didn't listen to those sad show stoppers? What could we become, or where could we go if we pushed those voices aside and said "So what?"

Maybe, like so many of those who have stood on that stage in front of the Idol judges and been told no, we can at least say we tried. We can say that we are doers, not thinkers, actors not wishers.

Yes some who are turned away leave with less than pleasant remarks for the judges, but this reminds us also of the difficulty of facing our own weaknesses, that it is hard to take criticism well and use it for our own betterment.

American Idol reminds us the true value of humility, yet also challenges us to believe in the big and small dreams of our silly little selves. So the next time when we watch those freaky, far out, fame and fortune wanna be's, let's laugh. It's okay to laugh. But let's also applaud these "American Imbeciles" and remember that they are stars just for getting up there. And tomorrow maybe we'll do something that just might open the door for others to laugh at us, and who knows where we will end up - maybe on national television.

Maybe, just maybe, we'll hear applause as well.