I'm a neat person. I say that proudly but somewhat defensively because neatness is snickered at by, I would say, the majority of (messy) people.
I've had arguments with friends who don't understand why I insist they remove their shoes in my house. Then I break into a cold sweat when, upon leaving, they lean on my walls with their greasy fingers to put their shoes back on. I've straightened pictures on friends' walls and puffed up pillows on their sofas. I've lined up books or magazines that were askew. I've been given a roll of the eye when I ask someone to be careful eating at my couch, only to find a permanent soya sauce stain on it later on.
Funnily enough, while it seems acceptable to tease neat people as a little loopy -- I've been labelled OCD too many times to count -- calling someone filthy or a pig to their face is considered bad manners.
Why the double standard?
It may have to do with the ingrained belief that neat people are prissy and conservative and messy people are carefree and creative. Take this op-ed from the New York Times. It's chalk full of research that confirms just how creative messy people are. It doesn't help that one of the most brilliant, creative people to have ever lived looked like he'd stuck his finger in a light socket -- and his desk? Oy.
But I take issue with the claim that messy necessarily equals more creative. Or, I would put forward the notion that not all creativity comes from chaos. Clearly messiness worked for painters like Jackson Pollock but I doubt it helps architects like Daniel Libeskind. I would suspect James Joyce was a filthy mess, but that you could eat dinner off of Malcolm Gladwell's floors. I get distracted if there's too much on my desk while I'm working but several of my coworkers used to have creative briefs and sketches two inches high and scattered all over their workspaces -- it worked for them.
I recognize that creativity demands exploring different viewpoints by wandering outside the lines of convention, and I'm happy to go there. I just think there's no excuse for not cleaning up after yourself when you're done.
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