Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

 

I’m not afraid to admit I’ve always enjoyed watching talent-based reality shows.

“American Idol,” “The Voice” and “America’s Got Talent” are just a few I’ve watched over the years.

This last week, the finale for “America’s Got Talent” aired, and a new winner was named.

I think it’s fair to say that most of the people in the top three on these shows are incredibly talented, but this year’s winner took that to a whole different level.

This year’s winner was Kodi Lee, a 22-year-old blind and autistic man, who is being called a musical prodigious savant. A prodigious savant is someone who possesses astounding abilities in certain areas, in spite of having larger impairments in other areas.

According to his website, Lee has an audio photographic memory, and is able to recall music after only hearing it one time.

I did not realize until after the show was over that Lee had been performing for many years in local restaurants, wineries and music events around town. He was recently invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

I think anyone who has watched him perform would agree he has a gift, and he has a remarkable ability to connect to audience members through his music.

If he weren’t inspirational enough, I was also inspired by his mother, who helped him around the stage and offered words of comfort before each performance. His other family members were usually offstage rooting him on, as well.

It was amazing to see their connection and to see her happiness as she watched her son flourish.

This was a man who wasn’t letting anything stop him from achieving his dreams, and as a parent of another special needs child, I found myself touched by their example many times throughout the season.

It also made me think of how often the rest of us let worries of not being good enough or other small hiccups in the road interrupt us from achieving our dreams.

We should all be like Lee and not let anything get in our way of reaching our goals.

While sometimes the paths to achieving our dreams and goals feels like we’re going three steps forward and one step back, in the end we’re still making progress in the right direction.

I look forward to seeing this young man’s music career take off. If you have a minute, check him out online.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Tuesday.