Cleanliness Is Next To...

One way one may classify groups and attach labels to them is by the way they behave. There have now been two marches on Washington recently, the first said to have been organized by Glenn Beck; the second by a variety of factions, most loyal to the president of the United States, consisting of union members and a variety of left-leaning organizations, communists, socialists, student groups, community organizers and welfare recipients.

No doubt, there is some significance in who was there first, as there was some significance in the raw numbers of those attending each event. It has been generally acknowledged that the Beck rally was bigger. This could mean that Beck’s followers are more enthused. It could also mean that Beck’s followers have the momentum while last weekend’s rally was no more than an afterthought - a hurried attempt at playing catch up.

Numerical data, however, can be manipulated. Already I hear conflicting assessments. More to the point, perhaps, is the visual part. By all accounts, the people attending the Beck rally were considerate of each other and scrupulously clean, leaving very little (if any) trash behind. Not so the people attending last weekend’s rally. There were said to be literally mountains of trash left behind for others to clean up.

This fact alone clearly betrays a state of mind. Last weekend’s marchers apparently thought of them selves as ‘entitled‘. They seemed okay with leaving a mess.

A common observation by Westerners is that India is ‘dirty‘. This, despite handleless brooms being available in virtually every shop, and those same brooms being in motion several times a day, moving trash from one place to another. Philosophically, it may be attributed to a bias toward maintaining internal spaces (the mind) rather than the street. Culturally, it could indicate the expectation that someone of a lower caste will clean up. Middle and upper class Indians seldom do things for themselves. They employ maids, cooks and drivers. It never occurs to them to pick up after themselves, to wash dishes, clothes, etc.

Dependence is not a circumstance that will get us far. Already, it has a become a problem in India finding help. In Bombay, the maids have organized into unions. It is they who are likely to dictate terms: “I don’t do windows.”

Back in the ‘90’s, I took the kids out West for a tour of the National Parks. We rented a car and spent about three months on the road. I was surprised in flipping through the stations on the radio how many music formats were dedicated entirely to the to the ’60’s and ‘70’s. New music was almost impossible to find. It may just be that Californians have never grown up. What they have term as ‘progressive’ is merely a throw-back to a bygone era - glorious as it was in its certainty of immortal youth, promise and fantasy. It’s always hard to change when one stubbornly decides to dig in one’s heels and swim against the tide. I don’t remember all those Haight-Asbury apartments as having been all too clean.

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