A Normal Guy.

If you've read much at all of my blog, you know that I've been friends with some of the most incredible people there are. I have friends who have lost family members due to death.  I have friend who are highly witty. I have friends who sacrifice major desires and talents for seemingly menial things. I have friends with incredible powers to forgive, and undeniable strength to overcome adversity.

This post isn't much like that at all.

I have a friend whose name I'm actually going to tell you. It's Kirk Johnson. If you search through facebook, there are 465 Kirk Johnsons.If you're not my facebook friend, or his, you probably wouldn't pick him out of a crowd.  Kirk was raised as a latter day saint. He's the oldest of several children. His parents met at BYU (very typical for Mormons). He's lived in Utah his whole life. He's white, average height, average build (not stocky, but  not slender). He decided to serve a mission when he was 19. He was called to Ohio (which I love, but makes most people go "Meh!" Except every four years during November when political junkies are very invested in Ohio) and wasn't a leader for most of his mission. He has brownish-red hair (though he tries to claim to be a ginger for some odd reason.) He's going to be a computer programmer, and he fits all the linux-loving, Star Trek following, nerdy geekiness that you would assume of such a guy. I mean his self-descritption on facebook says, "I'm Linux user 437442, Crix, a Star Wars Fan, An open source advocate, an overall nerd, and most important, I'm a Mormon." He's going to BYU with his LDS wife, and they will certainly repeat much of what has already been said.

So who cares, right? I mean what's the big deal. You name one thing about this guy, particularly if you're LDS and familiar with the culture, that stands out about him.

What matters about Kirk is that he IS normal.


I have the utmost respect in the world for this guy. First of all, I love the fact that he's a computer geek. The very laptop upon which I am blogging was found and chosen due to his influence. Whenever this laptop has issues, he's the first person I call.

Second, he has ambitions to do good things, but he doesn't let those ambitions make him do stupid things. He's content with who he is. Of all the people I've blogged about, and even more so of the people I know in this world, very few are consistently  day-to-day happy with who they are. That is Kirk to a T. Kirk is happy with just being Good. He doesn't need to b world class. He doesn't crave the spotlight, and probably even feels a little weird about the fact that I'm writing about him. He's not perfect, but he's exactly what you'd want. Kirk Johnson is normal. Our world functions because there are people like Kirk. If you don't believe me, you should probably stop using your iPhone, or your car, or taking out your trash. I'm sure that there are others who I could have written this about, but forever, I will be grateful for my very normal friend Kirk Johnson.

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr."