Too busy getting our hustle on...

It was recently that I heard a European woman mentioning how horrible it was to go to the restroom in NYC. She said that no matter how "high end" the places she went to were, people would still pee all over the seat and not clean up after themselves leaving all kinds of different waste matter around as well. She was utterly disgusted and thought that for being a city that is one of the forefronts of culture and style we were all mostly filthy and behaved without much consideration for others.

Is it that most people in this city specifically are so overworked and tired that we can't see much past where we have to hustle to next? Then, as a result of an extended time in that mode of hustle, loses the sensitization of how we're interacting? Is there too much "out for self" as a unit and then the fragmentation happens into "us and them?" It seems that the filth does come from a sense of disconnect of how one's own actions contribute to the collective environment of the city itself, but also beyond as visitors pass through, or even worse when this mentality travels to other places and still does'nt wake up. Habits are hard to break. However, it's this disconnect that is interesting... the idea that "someone else" will take care of my waste so why take care with my own actions is bizarre.

I also had someone say to me, "Well if the MTA workers actually did their job well, we would not have to deal with all this." I thought of our last event with Meaning Cleaning and how if we all were a little more responsible, maybe it would be easier for the workers whose job is to MAINTAIN clean. Perhaps they would not be as disgruntled by the fact that while they're cleaning the stations or restrooms people are disrespecting their hard work by littering over it just as they have finished with no regard or respect. Similar to what we noticed as some people totally disregarded what was happening while we were cleaning (that it was a gift in a way) and just tarried on like cattle or horses with blinders. However, there were a good few who were very interested and thankful... it could be interesting to start asking people why about themselves when they ask us why. Also, to be looking good while we're cleaning is a throw off of what people expect to see.

The trends we're noticing makes it all the more important that these interuptions keep going! (What happens inside, happens outside. No seperation.) We can make the floors and spaces that we deal with become like reflecting pools with the aroma of the stress relieving and natural antiseptic qualities of lavender (instead of staleness and urine.) The interactions that we have are clues as to what is really happening. I like to believe there's hope. If anything, we will have done something not only beautiful and responsible, but will open forums for social discussion or reflection. It's interesting to see how we behave when confronted with the issues of taking care and responsibility for not only our own self, but seeing the self in the subways and through ways of our collective everyday. Maybe we can wake things up a bit?