Sometimes the truth hurts....

Regardless of your opinion on the show American Idol...I happen to think the first few weeks of the tryouts are absolutely hysterical. I mean it brought us the musical hit 'Pants on the Ground' after all. But it's the truly awful people that think they can sing that come in and just get blasted by Simon and the other judges that cracks me up the most. When a judge can't even manage to stop themselves from spontaneous laughter at your performance, maybe you shouldn't be there.

What really makes me watch this show like a car driving slowly by a nasty wreck on the freeway is the fact that all these people that are truly horrible singers show up with huge groups of family and friends that are all shocked and disappointed when their 'star' doesn't get a ticket to go through to Hollywood.

I know that as a spouse or a family member or a friend that you don't want to be cruel or dash someones dreams. You smile and nod when the belt out their tone deaf renditions of their favorite songs. You laugh a bit when they put on a strange outfit and dance around the living room. Maybe you have a few drinks and join them for a night of Karaoke at the local bar. That is all well and good.. and makes you a great friend to have.

However, if said tone deaf friend comes to you and says:

"Hey I am thinking about driving half a day to stand in line for 10 hours so that I can get a chance to be on national TV singing my version of 'Achy Breaky Heart'... what do you think? Oh and I am going to wear a giant banana costume to really grab their attention. Want to go with me?"

This is where you need to be an even better friend. You need to be the kind of friend that takes away keys at a bar when you know someone has had too much to drink. This is the time for a reality check. Time to finally tell them that while you like their voice and have fun with them at karaoke, that they are not cut out for singing as a career and they should save themselves the time and embarrassment of showing the world that fact.

I encourage my kids to pursue their dreams and do the activities that make them happy. For example, my older son likes to play basketball. Really enjoys it and I love watching him play. However, if he told me tomorrow that he wanted to drive somewhere to tryout for the olympic basketball team, I would tell him honestly that he was not ready for that level of play. I would offer to help him find a way to get more practice, playtime and such if he was really that interested in becoming great at the sport. I just wouldn't encourage him to go get his dreams dashed when he was clearly not ready.

Sometimes.. you need to just give that special person in your life a bit of a reality check so that this doesn't happen:



Know when to say when. Or know when to say "I heard a cat being gutted with a rusty spork that sounded about the same as your last cover of 'Put a Ring On It'. :P
Be that friend!