Are you?... Are you not?... Clean?
February 23, 1995.
Lorenz Chan

Are you hoping to become wealthy, so you can have enough money to hire a housekeeper or a maid?
Do you feel good when you open your window's car and do some littering?

When you went to the movies, the other night, did you enjoy leaving behind your soda cans and popcorn leftovers?
Have you left your mark at the cafeteria, like some bubble gum under the table, or your complete tray unattended, or maybe made some balls of wet paper and threw them on the ceiling?

Have you experienced the excitement of painting graffiti? How many pencils or notebooks have you lost, "donated," for the custodial department to be the new owner?

In today's society, we all take cleaning for granted. In the modern education system the lack of teaching on cleaning habits and virtues are totally in contrast with the issue about dinosaurs and the sciences. The importance of other subjects has absorbed the importance of the basic needs. The "small" issues, (minorities), are always in a struggle for survival. Cleaning is one. Dirt exists, mess is a problem, what we need is an awareness of it! It needs support from everyone because everyone creates trash. This is a war against dirt. Unfortunately, there are not supporters or advisors for this topic. We are all very busy in something else and the world we live in is becoming very narrow. In this battle, one side is the population and the other side is the trash. We may not see the accumulation of trash as a problem because we do not see it on the television or the news. We only have to put the trash outside for the trash collector and forget about the problem. When traveling, we do not choose to visit the local "city dump" because it is not a tourist site. In our minds, the thoughts for cleaning are very short or limited; our attentions are concentrated on more important things, not in dirty subjects.

But simply because we ignore the trash and its effect, that does not mean it does not exist. It is there, outside, growing and growing, more and more. Spaces are getting shorter and shorter; the rooms are filling very fast and large amounts of money are invested in solving this problem, but instead of terminating it, it is advancing as a malicious and infectious disease, quiet but destructive. Would not be nice if some part of the money invested in the trash was credited to our College funds? Why put the money in the trash, gamble and lose it?

I work as cleaning supervisor in our local cafeteria. I am surprised by the quantity of trash that is made every day. We have big trash cans and deposit containers that are filled to the top every couple of weeks. The food leftovers would be a miracle for so many poor people around, not only the world, but at our cities also, and they are destroyed every day at my work. The elements involved in the daily cleaning create a complete industry that has to be paid and maintained. Technically, you are paying a good deal of money for my job and others and what kind of job we do? Picking up the trash, cleaning the mess, putting back in order the furniture and appliances, destroying the leftovers, creating a clean environment every day, preparing the establishment to be disorganized again and again.

I thank you for providing me with an income, but I hope you do not have to find yourself alone without any money and unable to pay somebody to clean your mess; that would be shocking to you.
This is only a report about this problem. Trash is a problem that could be resolved by all of us, yes we can do it! But because it is an issue that is ignored, it is leaving behind a monster that someday is not going to be able to be recycled!

Some possible ideas came to my mind about what you could be thinking about this issue. Here are the examples:

The trash can is to far away.

Some of us end very tired from our daily tasks and I understand the difficulty of walking extra distances to the closest trash cans. But it is all right, now you can change the stereotype and make some difference.

I am paying good money for the cleaning of my mess.

There are more important things that you can get with your money, or maybe some needs that you would be happier to supply instead of paying extra money for clean your residuals.

Nobody has the right to tell me what to do.
There are few empty spaces in our experiences as students that need to be complete to make a person whole. Let us go to the supermarket of life and buy some "virtues and manners", let us choose cleaning habits for our daily diet. We all have to impress somebody sometimes, why not impress ourselves?

Cleaning people, that is their job.

Most of them, like me, are tired of cleaning people's messes so they are changing careers, going to college, and getting green cards. Besides, think about the time expending in cleaning, if the cleaning people were spending their time working in other environments, like production, would not be much better for our economy and society?

I also had listened several times some stereotypes in different subjects. Like races, colors, religions, etcetera. One stereotype that I cannot ignore is the one that said that we, all men, are pigs. I like to think about that for a little while. I would like to concentrate in the idea about my cleaning habits. My mother is not here to clean my mess and I do not have a maid. Is this who am I?

I do not like to clean the bathroom. I like to play basketball with my dirty clothes on. I take a shower because I have to, not because I want to. I only dress well and use perfume when I have a date, (and that is not very often!) I hate doing my laundry, so I buy more clothes instead. When I go to the kitchen and finished my meal, I leave somebody else to clean my dishes, the table, and the chair. I like to stick my bubble gum under the chair. My thoughts are involved in dirty subjects and I enjoy very much sharing those thoughts with my friends. Is it only for this why the call us pigs?

I like to be rebel with a cause. I think being young is characterized at least for one issue: rebellion. Using this attitude in a positive way, we can do some change to this traditional dirty world. Let us wake up from our stage of lazy minds. Make an issue against dirtiness. Let us make some changes in our daily habits. Be a rebel against traditional attitudes, like being a trashy person and "messing around," become cleaner around ourselves and with society. I like to wake up and smell the roses, but what if there was trash around them? I want to see a new hero, not someone that flies or with superpowers. I would like to see a person that is distinguished from the majority because of their personal habits. Like the old story about Johnny Apple seed, leaving apple seeds behind, so somebody could later enjoy the delicious fruits.

When I go different places, I enjoy them most when they are clean. I feel grateful for the cleaning people who made possible for me to enjoy that specific space. I have also been in places where you can question the education. I say education because habits and virtues are taught. Learning is a gift that we all can choose in limitless subjects. The good virtues, counting cleaning as one of them, are learned with the desire of the person, just like the desire to become a doctor, a lawyer, or an artist.

We are in the factory of tomorrow's professionals. We are preparing ourselves to be useful to society and complete a task that feels inside our hearts and souls. We are getting good training in mathematics, history, science and arts. Are we preparing our resumes with virtues also? Will your resume read: Joan or John Doe, AS, BA, BS, MA, PhD, vast experience in work environment, enjoys social activities, friendly with people, office equipment knowledge, several languages, availability for relocation, clean person?

Become a professional today, do not wait for tomorrow, learn the most that you can, achieve the good values; practice them with your acquaintances. Enjoy life in a clean environment. Do not contribute to dirty causes. Pick up a paper. Share a flower with someone. Smile to yourself. You are becoming a good person.

A simple conclusion could be the following: as we walk to our daily life and we have the need to release something that we do not find a use for, and it is not important, we consider it trash, just do the honorable thing, and put it in the trash!

Return to Polis 2006