When there's a Will there's a Way

The William Hung Phenomenon 

           He was once a virtual unknown walking the college streets in the Californian city of Berkeley, just an ordinary civil engineering student going for classes day in day out. Yet he had one ambition. That he would one day make singing his career. So he worked hard towards his dream, taking part in a nationwide contest that would grant instant success to the person who emerged on top. Alas he was rejected by the judges. It was written all over their faces – that he didn’t have the aura of an idol, that he sang out of tune, that his attempt at dancing was absolutely and positively just that – an attempt at dancing. In short he was just no good.

            But he refused to be turned away. He looked earnestly at the judges, and proclaimed in a matter of fact voice, “I already gave my best and I have no regrets at all.” The judges sat up. This was one unlikely contestant - an average face in the crowd but one who was anything but average in the way he conveyed his earnestness and sincerity. A judge even remarked, “That’s the best I’ve heard yet.” Turning away without even muttering a grunt of anger or shedding a tear, he headed home to California as nonchalantly as he came – it was as if he had just made yet another trip during the college holidays and was merely returning there for another term of school.

             But this was no ordinary school vacation, and it was no ordinary singing contest. It was the American Idol – the latest reality TV show that had hit a United States audience hungry to know how other people lived their lives without bothering to consider what kind of lives they should be leading. And they lapped up the performance with gusto. Within weeks there was not one person in the US who had not heard of William Hung, the Hong Kong engineering student at the University of California, Berkeley. And there were few people who had not seen William’s rendition of Ricky Martin’s rock hit She Bangs, now widely available on the internet thanks to the prevalent sharing of mp3 files and other audio recordings in cyberspace.

             William himself now basked in the glow of new-found stardom. He suddenly found himself to be the object of desire for every US media network, with some commentators going so far as to say that his face could almost be seen round the clock given the considerable number of cable channels and their prevailing influence into the homes of people. And his fame had even spread worldwide. A check on any internet search engine for the words “william hung” now easily gave rise to no fewer than 500,000 entries. And the most startling news yet – William Hung had signed a recording contract. He would finally be given his wish to sing for the masses.

             One would have thought that given his instant ascension to celebrity status, William would be a victim of the Hollywood syndrome, with all the trappings of a celebrity – the long queues of fans eager for an autograph, the fashion makeover complete with spanking new clothes and accessories to match, a standoffish attitude when away from the public eye… But William succumbed to none of that. Apart from the more than occasional signing of autographs at his university campus, William remained an individual untouched by the hype surrounding him. A faculty staff commented that he was the best thing that had happened to Berkeley’s civil engineering department. And in a recent interview on his new-found fame, William portrayed a demeanour not significantly different from his earlier self. When asked whether he faced any struggles, William candidly admitted that he did, saying that there’s no one in this world who doesn’t encounter any struggles.             

            The story of William Hung has moved millions of people around the world. It still remains to be seen if William will continue to be as untouched by fame or if he’ll continue to be the idealistic individual who chases after his dreams with all earnestness and sincerity. What’s so far been established is that when there’s a will there’s a way – that as long as one chooses to strive for his or her desires, they’ll one day come to pass. In a world where the things that matter are often abandoned in favour of things that hold no value, the human will prevails against the odds. But that’s only if the human wills that his or her dreams should become translated into reality. However, given the finite nature of the human mind and the frailty of human life, there are situations that the human will can never triumph no matter how hard it tries. It’s in such circumstances that only one will can ultimately prevail – God’s will. And given the basis that only God has ultimate control over all the earth, we can be absolutely certain that whatever He desires will come to past, according to His purposes and in the way He intends it to be.

     
This article was written by Mark Lim Shan-Loong on 20th March 2004.

Words from the Heart