American Idol

Today’s blog has nothing to do with politics, policy or political parties. I want to blog about American Idol.

Last night after 97 million votes where cast, Missouri native and Oklahoma resident David Cook won the American Idol competition and was crowned this year’s American Idol. While who won and who lost probably doesn’t mean much compared to the larger issues facing America, it was a great example of the American spirit.

Week after week, our family gathered around the TV to watch incredibly talented young people pursue a passion for singing and strive to win the grand prize as the American Idol. We got to root for our favorite singer, vote for them, join Randy, Paula and Simeon as music critics and watch these young people, pursue their passion, sometimes winning praise and other times enduring criticism.

We watched the early shows that show cased those with great talent, good talent, mediocre, bad and others with no talent. We watched the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. We watched one young man that sings, “Your Are My Brother.” He was absolutely horrible as a singer, but he some how won a place in your heart and ended up singing his song in the finale.

As for others, probably for the first time in their lives they were told that had no talent and should pursue something other then singing. For them the world may have seemed to have come to an end, but sometimes the truth hurts. In the long run they will be much better off in life pursuing something they are more suited for because they really had no singing talent. We saw the bizarre that tried out for the competition just to get their few minutes of fame on TV and for others that really were angry to be told they had no talent.

Then the show moved past the auditions and took those few dozen with real talent and the real competition began. One by one the contestants sang their songs and then had to face the judges and the people. The three judges (Randy, Paula and Simeon) ranged from brutally honest to sympathizing, but all have an ear and feel for great talent. One by one the lesser talents were voted off and in some cases the better talents were voted off.

However, in the end you had the best talent singing their hearts out with many of them facing a bright future in the entertainment field applying their craft because American Idol gave them an opportunity to pursue their dream as singers.

It really is good family entertainment. My wife and I had to laugh when our four year old son said about one girl after her performance, “she needs to go home.” We also laughed watching our 18 month daughter dance or laughing at ourselves for a critiquing a performance when we can’t carry a tune in a bucket if our lives depended on it. I think they call it good old fashion family fun.

In the end stood two incredibly talented young men that should have great and prosperous singing careers ahead of them with millions of fans rooting for them. In the end, David Cook a nice and humble young man with an incredible gift of singing won the competition. While you had be happy for him, you also had to be happy for all those young men and women who with great talent pursued a dream to be an American Idol. Many of them will go on to have incredible careers and some I sure will go back to wherever they came from and continue to sing because that’s what they love to do.

Sometimes we all need to step away from the pressures of life and gather our families and enjoy the moment.