Clean

One of my favorite things is to walk into a clean room.

Surprised?

Though my room at school and my room at home both are a mess most of the time (my room is worse than ever right now- packing does that), I do love a clean room, yet I seldom see my own in that condition- the only time it's clean is when I'm gone at school. Nothing gets done at home then, so there's no mess. and I guess the same goes with my life.

I worked at a high school this summer- teaching for the first half, and then doing graphic design stuff the second half. What I noticed about the school is that it was absolutely pristine- floors shiny and spotless, walls devoid of posters, even the air was clean and unpolluted by noise. Yet the day the students return, the school is a mess again, studdents cramming the halls and the classrooms filled with noise. I think most people would prefer the clean school, but without the commotion and noise, there would be no learning, and the school would be an empty waste.

Last year, in the first few months of school, I found myself in a whole new enviornment, social system, and with a whole new attitude. And I was a mess- stumbling more than I could take a strong step forward. I called my mother and relayed this to her- I wanted to change and live gracefully- not flat on my face half the time. She said "If you want to grow, it's going to be messy, never graceful. If you do all you can to grow gracefully and flawlessly, you will never change or grow"

Funny how in my ceramics class in high school, the most productive days were the ones that I made an absolute mess of the four tables I was given to work on. But what did people look at when all was said and done- the mess I had made, or the piece of art that was the result?