“Don’t Stop Believin”

Richard Goodall Is in All of Us

The 55-year-old janitor from Terre Haute, IN stepped onto one of the world’s largest stages. Simon Cowell greeted him, and it was obvious this simple, quiet man was terrified as likely most contestants are. Truth be told, the America’s Got Talent judges and audience members didn’t expect much from this understated, meek contestant, just as had been the case with Britain’s surprise singer, Susan Boyle.

Until he, Richard Goodall, opened his mouth to sing. And sing he did. Though his hands shook as he held the microphone while singing Journey’s, “Don’t Stop Believin”, Richard gave those watching a rare look at what courage and determination and true talent looks like.

Despite all odds, Richard delivered more than a stunning vocal performance. In those few moments on stage, he told us all a story about how even if you don’t believe in yourself, you can still follow and experience your dreams.

Richard often sang in the hallways of the school where he worked and the children who attended there were the encouragement he needed to start believing in himself. He made his first plane trip across country to take the AGT stage — not telling the very children who had encouraged him to take that step — just in case his audition didn’t go well.

He needn’t have worried about that since he got a coveted golden buzzer from judge Heidi Klum at his audition, eventually winning the yearly competition.

What does this have to do with me, with us, you may be asking? I believe all of us are Richard Goodall some time in our lives. Maybe even most or all of our lives if we’re being honest. Perhaps we were discouraged or wounded in the homes we grew up in, at the schools we attended, by ones who were supposed to love us. Maybe, just maybe, we didn’t even need those external relationships to keep us from believing in ourselves because we innately did not see our own worth or value — whether or not others did.

Richard Goodall, after years of not knowing his own worth finally saw a glimpse of it in the eyes of the children he knew cared unconditionally about him. He believed them enough to take his first plane trip at the age of 55 to see if maybe, just maybe, he was worthy of their encouragement. If what they thought of him could be true. In spite of what he saw reflected in the mirror of his own self-worth, he was able to break through the flawed self-image he had deemed as truth because someone cared enough to show him their reflection of who he was to them.

And that my friends, is what we all need to be — reflectors to others of how we see them — showing them the good parts of themselves that they don’t see or notice. If we don’t stop believing in ourselves and others, what a different world we would live in.

Jackie Deems copyright 2024