Posted on: Friday, February 21, 2003

'Idol' needs to keep chin up

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Dear Jordan,

Overnight, your picture slipped from the front page, the television and radio promos disappeared and reporters stopped interviewing your classmates at Farrington. You took a big risk in a very public way, and it can't have ended the way you, your family and friends intended.

Congratulations! You have just qualified for one of the highest honors in life: the opportunity to learn and grow from disappointment. Most of us never get the guts to sign up for that kind of learning. It's heartbreakingly hard. But the rewards are better than any recording contract.

Never mind what Simon Cowell said. He gets paid to be snide. The good thing is that now you've just about heard it all. You got a big dose of Simon on national television and it didn't kill you.

It's hard to imagine what it would be like to be 18 years old, caught in the vortex of red-hot hype, only to have it come down this way. There must be the great temptation right now to look backward, to think about what you might have done differently, to second guess and analyze. Mostly, it's an exercise in frustration. Now's the time to look forward, to welcome the unexpected opportunities this closed door will bring. Life is funny that way. Another door always opens, and often, it's a whole hallway full of doors.

A while back, Joe Onosai and his Men of W.A.R. team did a presentation at your school. Maybe you got to see them. If you did, you'd surely remember his message. It's a keeper and it's something you only understand after heartbreak.

Onosai talked about getting the chance to play pro football, his lifelong dream come true. After playing for the University of Hawai'i, he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. Imagine the excitement! He could see his whole glorious future ahead of him. But after just two preseason games, that dream fell to pieces with a career-ending neck injury. When Onosai tells this story, he slows down at the end and makes special emphasis of these words, "I have learned that when a dream dies, YOU HAVE TO DREAM AGAIN."

In interviews before your performance Tuesday night, you talked about representing Hawai'i, making us all proud. You still can do that.

Besides, all the best "Behind the Music," "Before They Were Stars" and "E! True Hollywood Stories" episodes have those great clips of unsuccessful attempts at "Star Search." Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Usher, LeAnn Rimes and the like, they all look back at their talent contest experiences and laugh.

What matters isn't what happened that night. What matters is what you do now. We still need a hometown hero, Jordan. We need all the role models we can get.

What better role model than one who rises out of adversity. You have to dream again.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.