Let me tell you about my friend, “Ordinary Joe.” You may have met him before, and not recognized him. That happens a lot, after all, he is ordinary. He does not draw attention to himself.
Ordinary Joe has two sisters and one brother. Their parents got divorced when Joe was 9 years old, and he and his siblings lived with their mother. Joe’s father has since remarried, and lives in another state. Joe usually only sees him on holidays.
Ordinary Joe got married when he was in his early 20’s and has been married to the same woman for 30 years now. She is the only person he has ever had sex with. He loves her and has never seen any reason to be unfaithful to her. He is a normal man, so he does notice attractive women, but noticing their beauty is as far as it goes. He does not dwell on them, or ever think about becoming involved with them in any way. He loves his wife, and she loves him. Ordinary Joe is a regular man.
Ordinary Joe has worked for the same company for 10 years. He likes his job OK, but sometimes wishes he could do something more personally satisfying. The job pays moderately well and has good benefits, so, he keeps at it. He tolerates the boredom, and he pays his bills the best he can.
Ordinary Joe, and his wife, Ordinary Jane, have three children. The oldest child is Joe Jr. He is 23 years old. He got an Associate’s degree in landscaping at the local community college. He recently moved into his own apartment. He works for a roofing company. It is hard work, but he is making more money than he did at the part time jobs he worked while in high school. Joe Jr.’s girlfriend is enrolled in nursing school at the university.
Their second child is Jean. She is 17 years old and finishing up her senior year in high school. She is very witty and creative but is high strung emotionally and prone to making decisions based on her emotions rather than well thought out logic. She plays the flute in the high school band.
The youngest child is Trent. He is 11 years. He has been diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. He is on medication. When Trent was in the third grade, the teachers began to have a problem with Trent, because when recess time ended, Trent wanted to stay outside playing instead of coming back into the class. He always came back in class with no issues other than that it took him about a minute longer to do so than the rest of the class. When the teachers discussed this with Joe and Jane in a counseling session, the school counselor recommended that Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary take Trent to his primary care physician and have him tested for ADHD. Naturally, the diagnoses came back positive for ADHD, because, after all, Trent is a boy.
Joe and Jane are Christians. They both read the Bible and pray together regularly. They attend their church regularly, and have tried, as best they can, to live out their Christian faith as a solid witness to their children, and those around them.
Ordinary Joe and Ordinary Jane are not perfect people, and they do not try to pretend that they are. Both of them try, as best they can, to get along with everybody. They treat everyone the same, regardless of race, religion, political affiliations, socio-economic status, gender, and all the other things that’s make people different. There are both consciously aware of their flaws and try to improve themselves.
They have always wanted to be good parents since they decided to start a family. They took all the kids to Disney World 8 years ago, when Joe Jr. was 15 years old. They really couldn’t afford the trip at the time, but they wanted to make good memories with their children while they had the chance, because they had learned from reading the parenting books that children grow up to be better psychologically and emotionally prepared for life if their parents take the time to make memories with them. Most of the trip went on credit cards that they are still working to pay off.
Naturally, Jean was enrolled in piano class when she was six years old and that same year, she joined the local girl’s soccer league. She never really excelled at either and seemed bored and distracted most of the time. But Joe and Jane knew that Jean would look back on these times with fond memories when she grew older, because she would know that the soccer and piano had made her a better person.
Joe Jr. played third baseman on the school baseball team most of his years in Junior high, and high school. He had tried to learn to play the guitar for a while, but eventually gave it up when he never seemed to hit that “eureka” moment in his guitar playing endeavors.
Trent mostly focuses on Legos and Marvel Comics movie characters.
Ordinary Joe is a good citizen. He is thankful that he gets to live in the United States of America. He has seen a lot of bad places in the world on the news, and he realizes that he could be a lot worse off. He votes. He pays his taxes. He does get frustrated that the government seems to waste a lot of money unnecessarily, but he still believes that the USA has a pretty good system of government for the most part. He is not always in agreement with everything the people he votes for say and do, but he realizes that in most elections, you only have a few choices, so sometimes it just comes down to choosing the lesser of the two evils. He votes and hopes and prays for the best.
Ordinary Joe likes to eat. He enjoys spending time with family and friends over a good meal. He likes to exercise regularly, because that seems to make him feel better. He tries not to compare himself with the other guys at the gym who seem to spend about as much time there as he does, but who seem to have more muscle than he does. He is not fat, but he does have a little bit of a gut.
Joe likes to read and send time outside. He likes to walk and ride his bicycle. He enjoys spending time with Jane, but sometimes he also just wants to be alone with his own thoughts for a while.
You might enjoy getting to know Ordinary Joe. He might even live next door to you. He might even work for the same company you do or go to your church. Maybe he goes to your gym. He is not too far away from any of us, but he does blend in with the crowd, and sometimes you must look for him.
I like Ordinary Joe.
Danny's Stump 