{Above} I apologize for the language used above. I felt that despite the language it was a very good example of my frustrations. I did not take the picture nor do I know where it comes from.
While this is a rather old topic I feel it needs to be addressed. For the last academic year I was privileged to attend Sonoma State University. Perhaps one of the best parts of the SSU campus were the amazing dorm rooms where myself and my fellow students lived out our Freshman year. While I know that a certain degree of "messiness" in dorm rooms is to be expected, the accumulated piles of garbage in my dorm room and the damage done to our living room and hallways was, to say the least, extensive. Coming from a home that valued order and cleanliness, the experience of the dorm room was incomparable.
Thankfully, I was given a single suite which allowed me to close my door to the outside and granted me the ability to clean my room. The central living room and kitchen of the suite, however, was shared with several other people. While I cannot damn my dorm mates for their lack of cleanliness I do wonder how they will survive in the real world if they find it acceptable to live in a cesspool of filth and decay. When one has to tiptoe to the microwave and move large piles of week old milk bowls just to heat water, things have gone too far. When one has to kick a path through the living room to the back door, and once there, remove the ailing curtain from its hinges just to leave the dorm room, things have gone too far. I was appalled by my roommates' definition of "clean". Of course, I understand that, with all of our classes, extracurricular activities, and our particular suite being the meeting place for many people a fair bit of mess will be accumulated naturally. However, this doesn't mean that it is in anyway acceptable to leave the dorm room in such a horrific state for nearly the entire year.
Despite the more obvious reasons in favor of a clean dorm room there are a few others. First, allowing such volumes of black mold accumulate in the sink creates a considerable safety hazard. Second, if the dorm had been kept clean throughout the year fewer damages would need to be paid to the university. Third, keeping the dorm room clean, throughout the year, would have made move out week far less of a task and would have led to less strained tempers.
While I came to care for all of my roommates and wish them only the best of luck in their future undertakings I was less than pleased by their actions on move out week. I understand that many of us needed to pack up our belongings and clean out our own rooms with due haste, however, that does NOT excuse you from cleaning the common areas. There is no excuse for leaving before serious cleaning has taken place and you have personally contributed to said cleaning. While I appreciated a few of my roommates genuine help in cleaning the dorm I was quite angered by the actions of some of the others.
I felt used. Contrary to popular belief, I don't like to clean. I like order and cleanliness but spending my last days bent double over the floor scrubbing was not how I envisioned the last week of my Freshman year. Of course, it would be poor of me to blame my roommates for all of their actions. I wasn't born with a respect for hygiene, organization, or cleanliness. My parents taught me that.
Speaking generally, I wonder why (or how) many other parents seem to have missed passing this lesson to their children. It horrified me when I saw a fellow student in the laundry room unable to operate the washer. I saw this poor soul shove all of his clothes (whites, colors, etc.) into the washer and pound the console in an attempt to start the machine. When it didn't start he stared at it exasperatingly for another few moments. I decided to start my own laundry in the hope that he might pay attention and start his own. Thankfully he did.
Of course, I can't blame the parents entirely either. After all, they did their best, and now that we have moved out of their home it falls on us to adapt and take their lessons with us. Unfortunately, I fear that many of my fellow students don't see it that way. Perhaps they were raised in a home were all of these things were done for them. I certainly didn't have a difficult childhood. Many things were done for me. Now, I realize that. Now, I am able to appreciate a clean house, a clean kitchen, and ironed clothes. Even if I couldn't as early as last year. I suppose then, that this has become both a warning and a salute to parents. If you child doesn't know how to operate a dishwasher or clean a room properly don't send him or her to college, where, undoubtedly, your child will be a burden to those children who were PROPERLY raised. For those of you parents who have taught your children good hygiene, organization, and cleaning technique: Thank you! You have made the world a far better, more ordered, place.
A Brief Note:
I'm not a saint of cleanliness, nor do I put myself, in any way, above my roommates. I make my own mess. I also realize that my reaction to mess may be extreme, bordering on OCD. For that, I apologize. However, I was hurt by my roommates' lack of respect for our fantastic suite, and the time which others took to clean it.
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