This year has been the first that I have watched the X Factor from the begining to the end. What an incredible journey its been. From the auditions and all the people that we love to laugh at for thinking they sound great when they are completely tone deaf. Right through to boot camp and eventually the finals.
I have to confess I love Olli from day one, a checky Essex chap, like myself, but it wasn't until I heard Joe sing that I swapped my vote. The turning point was hearing Joe sing "The Circle of Life", a song that will always be special in my heart. It truly gave me Goose bumps as he sang it and I simply didnt get that from the other contestants. Each week Joe sang I would wait for the bumps and know he had that something special. There was something about him that reminds me of me. Maybe as he was a performing arts student? But that was it, each week I would watch, waiting for the note that would give me the shivers.
I sat there tonight, along with, if the news is to be believed some 20 Million People, watching and hoping Joe would win.
Watching the news, the outakes and seeing the retakes of him when they announced the winner and that moment he realised he was the winner, there was a moment when I thought 'I wish that was me'. How did that feel? Then it snapped and I realised, I know exactly how it feels. February 17th 1995 when my parents land line rang and this voice called and asked for Neil, then said "Hi it's Sue Sharp from Walt Disney World International Recruitment. Neil I have a role as a Walt Disney World Cultural Representitive and a 12 month posting at Epcot Centre with your name on it. It was the day that my dreams came true. The moment in my life that changed me forever, the day from which point I would never be the same. Not only was it the start of my voyage from boyhood to manhood and a pivital point where I discovered the true me. It was the first moment I ever realised that nothing is impossible, you can achive your goals and the hardest thing is not achieving them, but rather to dream them. To want to better yourself, to dream of better things.
Disney taught me so many many thing but the greatest gift of all was learning that anyone can make a difference. It takes the smallest of things to help make someone smile. A small gesture which may mean so little to you can mean so much to others. The golden rule we used to be taught was 'Exceed guest expectations'. Once you do that, you are always a winner.
It seems hard to believe that my time at Disney began nearly 15 years ago. It seems like yesterday. The memories are so fresh and I undoubtedly know that it was the experience that made me the man I am today. I miss the magic, the pixie dust, the sunshine and the fun times, but I have managed to bring much of that magic with me. From a boy who was nieve, young and unexperienced, shy and daunted by the challenges of the world, to the man I have become, strong, ambitious, outgoing and surprising even to me, brave. I miss the wonderful people I met at Disney, David, Mark, Alison, Claudia, Kiyomi, Christine to name but a handfull but the dream walt once had was for a futuristic community of tomorrow. We were that community and we will be that Disney Alumni until the day we die.
Joe, I wish you success and hope that your new found fame finds you as much happiness as my turning point in life had on me.
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