American 'Idle'

My wife and kids are following the American Idol TV show and last nite they had me sit and watch it with them. I was amazed at both the pitifully poor performances of people that should have known better, and also at some surprising voices with character.

At the end of the show they had to tell a room full of contestants that they hadn't made it, and would be leaving the show. And the reason that they were leaving, according to the dropped contestants, was that the judges were jerks or that the other contestants had manipulated the system. Pure bullshit.

They were eliminated because they weren't good enough. Plain and simple. They hadn't worked hard enough or practiced enough or honed their skills well enough. They expected it to come to them through a contest. Fame, success, riches... all were owed to them just because they showed up. There may have been a few gracious losers, but the producers didn't show us any. We saw spiteful, hateful, vulgar people who had little talent and had worked little to get there.

Every morning I watch a group of ice skaters no older than 13 work on the ice. They are up at 4am and they go to the cold ice and fall and fall and fall - and get up and do it again and again. They don't expect to just 'show up.' They expect to work hard to achieve their goals. And get up early. And fall.

"American Idolitis" is a sad commentary on our culture of hyped fame. So many people think that they don't have to work for their excellence that it would have been refreshing to see some of these 'contestants' actually be grateful that their small amount of talent had taken them that far.

What they need to do now is get up early. Take voice lessons. Sing with a group. Sing with a choir. Hone their skills. Work at it. Learn to play an instrument. Like those 12 year old girls who fall on the ice over and over again. Hell, do they think that Nora Jones just showed up one day at the studio and that was it? If they do, they are even more foolish than they looked screaming the off-key melodies in front of bored celebrities.

Success doesn't become your right if you just 'show up'. If you think it does, it's time for you to go home.