A popular term the media, politicians and political commentators like to use is "average ordinary citizen". They frequently use this term in a context that borders on being condescending, as if an average ordinary citizen is someone other and less than them.
So are average ordinary citizens what other people are but never us? Who is an average ordinary citizen? Is he related to the Nowhere Man made famous in the 1965 song by the Beatles, the lyrics of which are below?
"He's a real nowhere Man, sitting in his Nowhere Land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody.
Doesn't have a point of view,knows not where he's going to,isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man, please listen,you don't know what you're missing,Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.
He's as blind as he can be,just sees what he wants to see,Nowhere Man can you see me at all?
Doesn't have a point of view, knows not where he's going to, isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man, don't worry,take your time, don't hurry,leave it all till somebody else lend you a hand.
He's a real Nowhere Man,sitting in his Nowhere Land,making all his nowhere plans for nobody."
Are average ordinary citizens better known to us as Joe 6-Pack or Joe the Plumber, characters we learned of during the recent Presidential debates?
Is Joe 6-Pack an average ordinary citizen who likes to drink beer and watch NFL football on television? Or maybe he is an average ordinary citizen who likes to exercise and has a 6-pack from doing alot of situps, you know a gym rat.
Joe the Plumber may be more recognizable to us; the average ordinary citizen who makes a living as a plumber, the one who wears a heavy leather tool belt around his waist that makes his pants hang low so that when he bends over he exposes his "plumber's butt".
Makes you want to think twice before naming your son Joe.
Is Joe married to a hockey mom who is like a pit bull with lipstick, or the soccer mom who drives a large SUV? They both are average ordinary citizens too.
There's no doubt in my mind that I am an average ordinary citizen of the middle-age man vintage; I discovered this long time ago. But I do remember wanting to be somebody when I was younger, and I really worked hard at it, believing it would be my ticket to eternal self-esteem and the fountain of success in the eyes of my family and friends who looked at me and my accomplishments.
Then I became a little wiser and discovered that I wanted to be nobody, an average Joe Blow, or an average ordinary citizen as the higher powers like to say. I discovered that trying to be nobody was much more difficult and, unbeknownst to be, has been a greater source of happiness, making me feel more comfortable in the company of other average ordinary citizens like my good friends Joe 6-Pack and Joe the Plumber.
There's nothing inferior about being an average ordinary citizen so I'll continue going about my life being just an average Joe Blow.
So are average ordinary citizens what other people are but never us? Who is an average ordinary citizen? Is he related to the Nowhere Man made famous in the 1965 song by the Beatles, the lyrics of which are below?
"He's a real nowhere Man, sitting in his Nowhere Land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody.
Doesn't have a point of view,knows not where he's going to,isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man, please listen,you don't know what you're missing,Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.
He's as blind as he can be,just sees what he wants to see,Nowhere Man can you see me at all?
Doesn't have a point of view, knows not where he's going to, isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man, don't worry,take your time, don't hurry,leave it all till somebody else lend you a hand.
He's a real Nowhere Man,sitting in his Nowhere Land,making all his nowhere plans for nobody."
Are average ordinary citizens better known to us as Joe 6-Pack or Joe the Plumber, characters we learned of during the recent Presidential debates?
Is Joe 6-Pack an average ordinary citizen who likes to drink beer and watch NFL football on television? Or maybe he is an average ordinary citizen who likes to exercise and has a 6-pack from doing alot of situps, you know a gym rat.
Joe the Plumber may be more recognizable to us; the average ordinary citizen who makes a living as a plumber, the one who wears a heavy leather tool belt around his waist that makes his pants hang low so that when he bends over he exposes his "plumber's butt".
Makes you want to think twice before naming your son Joe.
Is Joe married to a hockey mom who is like a pit bull with lipstick, or the soccer mom who drives a large SUV? They both are average ordinary citizens too.
There's no doubt in my mind that I am an average ordinary citizen of the middle-age man vintage; I discovered this long time ago. But I do remember wanting to be somebody when I was younger, and I really worked hard at it, believing it would be my ticket to eternal self-esteem and the fountain of success in the eyes of my family and friends who looked at me and my accomplishments.
Then I became a little wiser and discovered that I wanted to be nobody, an average Joe Blow, or an average ordinary citizen as the higher powers like to say. I discovered that trying to be nobody was much more difficult and, unbeknownst to be, has been a greater source of happiness, making me feel more comfortable in the company of other average ordinary citizens like my good friends Joe 6-Pack and Joe the Plumber.
There's nothing inferior about being an average ordinary citizen so I'll continue going about my life being just an average Joe Blow.
Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum
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