You might not be familiar with this name yet, but trust me it's only a matter of time.
Viewers of NBC's hit summer series, "America's Got Talent," met 29-year-old singer Mandy Harvey for only a total of eight minutes during her audition performance Tuesday night, but it didn't take long for an entire nation to stand behind and feel inspired from this basic stranger.
This strong and humble contestant completely lost her hearing at the age of 18 after coming down with an illness that caused irreparable nerve damage. She was a freshman in college at the time, pursuing a degree in her passion for music.
Harvey gave a heartfelt confession of what it was like to leave her university's music program after failing to hear even one single note from her piano exam, and the moment she realized that "music now isn't about the sound; it's about the feeling," almost 10 years later.
To explain this in simpler terms, Harvey actually took her shoes off during her audition so she could feel the vibrations of the acoustics bouncing off the floor. It's her own way of hearing the music and maintaining rhythm.
Harvey expressed to her audience and the judges that she would be performing an original piece, fittingly named "Try." It's a melody focusing on the hardships she's certainly dealt with throughout her life, and the inner strength she discovered to overcome them.
Harvey's voice was beautiful, and so noting is the fact that she can't even hear herself! She had absolutely no idea what she sounded like on that stage in front of all of America and the world. Her only context clues for how her performance resonated with the audience was through their visually exasperated and admired. The excited expressions on their faces were incredible, not to mention their standing ovations with Simon Cowell's use of the golden buzzer.
Harvey's story can be an inspiration for all of us, as she says, "I want to do more with my life than just give up." A perfect example to never let anyone or anything get in the way of your dreams and to follow what is surely going to make you happy in life.
With the golden buzzer, Mandy Harvey is already guaranteed a spot in the live shows, but I do hope she is around for a quite a while. A person with so much strength, and gratitude, and kindness towards life, even after all it's thrown at her, is what this world needs.