"Susan Boyle dreamed of being a professional singer since she was 12. She's now 47 and lives in a small village in Scotland. Last weekend she appeared on Britain's Got Talent, where her performance....well, check it out here. Please.

Listen to her beautiful voice, and then think about what that moment meant. For 35 years, Susan Boyle dreamed about it. She faced enormous struggles and roadblocks, but did not let them derail her completely. She sang in her church choir and at karaoke nights, continuing to develop her voice, and then she stepped out. She signed up for the show and in a matter of minutes has taken the world by storm. 

What strikes me when I watch the video (and I've watched it several times over the past few days), it's that while her voice is truly breathtaking, it's not those few minutes onstage that tell her story. It's 35 years of dreaming, 35 years of never giving up, 35 years of judging herself by what she had on the inside, not how she looked on the outside, that make her performance not just beautiful, but heroic.

In my eyes, anyway.

I believe that each of us has the power to achieve our dreams...or some measure of them, anyway. If we step away from the mirror and lookinside ourselves, we can find our strengths, our tenacity, and our courage, and we can succeed."

Kindergartners who listen to rap music.

3rd graders who's parents live in California.

a boy who can't afford to bring lunch to school.

an exchange student who cuts his wrists.

active twin boys who can't go outside after school.

a five year old who only talks about Nintendo D'S...Seriously.

a 7th grade boy who got in a fist fight with his father at school.

an 8th grade dropout.

a first grader pretending to smoke a stick as a joke.

a child pulled out of school because of negative influences.

a teacher cussed out by a parent.

gossiping teachers.

children raised by grandparents.

a 6 year old who sometimes lives with his uncle, his mom, or his other uncle.

a kindergartner who watched his dad crack his moms skull with a golf club.

a 3rd grade girl who got made fun of because her dad was in jail.

the small 8th grade boy who "accidentally" gets beat up by classmates.

a mother slapping her 5 year old across the face

8th grade girls on birth control.

4th grades who ride the public bus to school by themselves. 

girls desperate for attention.

a kindergartner who asked me who Jesus was.