FLAT
DAVE TRUMPS REAL ONE

Topics: Appearances; Authenticity; Community; Companionship; Family; Humanity; Idolatry; Relationships

References: Exodus 20:4–6; Isaiah 44:9–23; Matthew 5:16; Acts 17:29; Romans 12:11; Revelation 3:15–16

Dave Davila, twenty-four, took a job in Chicago and had to leave his close-knit family in East Moline, Illinois. But family gatherings just weren’t the same without Dave. So his mother took a digital photo of Dave, had it blown up to his actual height—five feet eight inches—and mounted the photo on heavy cardboard.

At first Flat Dave just showed up and stood quietly by at family gatherings. Then word spread throughout the community, and he became something of a celebrity in East Moline. “Complete strangers want to pose with him,” said his brother Dan. He also said, “I think Flat Dave’s actually better looking than Dave.”

Sometimes things get somewhat awkward for the real Dave—the one the family now calls Thick Dave. “I’m in Chicago talking to my mom on the phone, and she says, ‘Hold on, I’ve got to load you into the van.’ It’s a little weird.”

—Rex W. Huppke, “Meet Flat Dave. He’s a Real Stand-Up Guy,” Chicago Tribune (July 2, 2006)