The Average American

So I always read these articles in the paper citing statistics about "the average American". The average American does this. The average American believes that. Let me tell you what I've learned about the average American while sitting in my office, living in Minnesota, and dealing with people.

1. The average American works hard for their money. He does not spend it frivolously; he simply has so much to pay for that his regular income hardly covers it, if it covers it at all.

2. The average American doesn't care about things like Hollywood, celebrities, and plastic surgery secrets to make us look thinner. He DOES care about his own family, the environment, helping others, and making it through the day.

3. The average American isn't wholly, 100% committed to any one thing if life. He is diversified among is many interests and obligations, and tries like hell to make sure everything and everyone gets the attention deserved.

4. The average American thinks the world was a better place when he was a kid. And he is right...it was.

5. The average American thinks he is somehow different than the rest of us...skin color, level of education, income, etc. The average American looks nothing like the next average American standing in line at the store, nor does he have the same background as the next average American riding on the bus, nor does he make the same as that other average American over there at Caribou. But that first average American is the same as the next one, and the next one, and the next one.

The average American is all of us, I think - but we spend so much time focusing on how we are different that we rarely, if ever, realize just how alike we are. At least, in the ways that matter. We may have small differences, but in the long run, we average each other out. Ya know?