The case for cleanliness

I just wish people would pay a little more attention, just take a bit of care in doing things. I've come to believe that there's a world of difference between taking a minimal amount of care and being utterly careless in doing things. I've heard the complaint, and had it levelled against me a few times, that "people live differently, when you share the same space, you've got to allow for differences." True enough, but why does this seem to tend to the lowest common denominator? Why should people who value care and cleanliness have to have someone else's carelessness and filth in their shared space?

Let's consider that the natural state of built spaces (homes for example) is to be clean and orderly. They're built that way; bits of debris are a necessary part of the process, but not native to the space, and not to remain there. Mess and disorder are simply the result of action, just as cleanliness and order are. Let's face it, if we bring things into a space, if we use things, then things will get disorderly. If we create messes, things will get messy. But it was our effort and action that created that. If actions are taken with care, then it's no more an effort to clean and order things after use.

In a physical, muscular sense, there's no appreciable difference in the efforts expended - more mess one time, more order another. The effort then is really in our mind, and what does that say about our attitudes and values? And especially, about our level of awareness of our being and our actions, moment-to-moment? I guess that the case I'm making is that entropy is just a state of mind. In nature, life is seen to be self-organizing. It's only the chaotic, unconscious part of ourselves that makes day-to-day human life seem any other way. When we awaken to ourselves, again we're aware of the innate order of life, and the essence of taking care - being simultaneously aware of ourselves and our actions in the moment, as well as the consequences of our actions in time.

And after all that, what I'm really saying is clean up after yourselves, guys! And make sure to leave the washcloths hanging clean. I hate filthy, cold, wet washcloths. Ugh.