Making lemonade with life's lemons

There are moments when you fully understand what it means to be bigger than life – in my case it came from a moment when I witnessed (albeit through youtube) someone take the lemons that life has given him to not be sour faced about it but to actually make lemonade.

Emmanuel Kelly, a 17 year old Australian of Iraqi descent, probably faced his demons in front of a live studio audience while auditioning for 'the X-Factor' Australia.

Through the powerful words of John Lennon's 'Imagine' and his heartfelt rendition of that song he looks into the camera and tells his demons that he is bigger and stronger – and that he has not been (to borrow from Lennon) crippled inside.
In my eyes John Lennon's powerful song found new meaning and contemporary urgency in Emmanuel's performance; The words found deeper resonance (if that is at all possible) and the song a new ambassador in Emmanuel.

Click below to see the triumph of the human spirit over the odds – through the voice of a boy who didn't cry at the injustice he had suffered but through his conviction turned that weakness into his strength.

As one of the judges commented at the end of the clip, after Emmanuel exited the stage, “it's like everything you worry about is so pathetic.”