Joe

And your name will be engraved, and your family will gather to commemorate the passing of your life, and your colleagues will say: “Joe was a good man, he was never late for work and he could always borrow you a pencil.” There will be the small Mary, who doesn’t understand why her father lays there, “Why is daddy sleeping, Mom? I mean, his boss is here Mom… wouldn’t s/he get angry?”. There will be the Joe Junior, not caring, and only thinking about the food which is going to be served soon. Blissfully ignorant, an ungrateful child or an emotionally numb victim of life’s biggest secret?

Say Joe goes in front of the gate to heaven and meets the doorkeeper.

Joe (J): “Can I get in?”

Doorkeeper (D): (in all smugness) “No, you didn’t pay to your local church and you are not famous”

J: “But I was praying…”

P: “You know how expensive is maintenance in heaven? All the fountains, sidewalks and brothels require a lot of effort to be kept at a heavenly level.”

J: “Alright… can I be considered famous? And if not, who can be considered famous?”

D: “People Jesus wants to hang out with, you know… someone who has a name, say a street named after them”

J: “Well fuck… Jesus is a big time cunt and an up-stuck bitch it seems”

D: “Pretty much, Sir… what did you do in life”

J: “I worked hard, and I always had a pencil I could borrow to my colleagues”

D: “You are just one of those Ordinary Joes, you should have paid the taxes to heaven, you should have thought about this moment Joe, you didn’t build a name for yourself”

J: “And what your name? If you don’t mind me asking.”

D: “None of your business”

J: “Bastard… so… what can I do now?”

D: “I can offer you to start life from scratch on Earth, but you will forget the life you had before, deal?”

J: “Oh… Well… Ok.. I guess…”

D: “It’s all set, go”

And somewhere on Earth another Ordinary Joe is born.