Neat People Aren’t Mean People
It is typical to look at a neat person and assume a few things. The first thing we normally assume is that this tidy person has a perfect life where everything has its place and their world must be spick and span. Or on the other hand we think “Oh no! This is another one of those O.C.D. neat-freaks.” and we watch for the neat person to adjust their pencils in a perfect formation like we see people do on television. When the author of “Neat People vs. Sloppy People”, Suzanne Britt, sees a neat person she assumes something slightly different but just as far-fetched. She assumes that a person who well-kept is inconsiderate and downright callous. She believes that neat people are wasteful, unsentimental, and mean. …show more content…
Everything is too important to throw away. Regardless of its purpose, use, or value, it must be kept. These possessions can multiply and pile up causing destructive, imprisoning clutter. Britt describes this as “loving attention to every detail” (243), but it’s nothing more than unhealthy baggage that clutters one’s mind. Sherrie Bourg Carter, phycologist and author, talks about how a cluttered environment can overwhelm a person’s mind and cause stress in “Why Mess Causes Stress: 8 Reasons 8 Remedies”. Her article explains how the mess around us can cause anxiety and create stress. Neat people live their lives without this kind of stress. Their ability to throw out unnecessary items, or what Britt might describe as being “incredibly wasteful”, gives a neat person freedom from that baggage and allows them to …show more content…
“They have cavalier attitudes toward possessions, including family heirlooms. Everything is just another dust catcher to them… No sentimental salvaging of birthday cards or the last letter a dying relative ever wrote. Into the trash it goes.” (243). These statements are very extreme and are probably the most offensive that Britt makes. She makes tidy people seem like cold robots that value cleanliness above everything else. However this is not true. Neat people are often compassionate. They keep their family heirlooms, letters from Nana, photos from vacation and other things of personal value. It is how and where they keep them that prove they care. Whether it is filing cabinets, photo albums, scrapbooks, or S.D. cards, every memory and sentimental object has a place. They keep the things they care about the most, safe and out of the way. With sloppy people, their prized possessions might lie under pile of filth or they swim in a sea of dishes. There’s no way of knowing and no way of finding them. Their sentimental items are discarded and disrespected like the garbage that clutters their desk. Just because a sloppy person keeps something doesn’t mean they care about it. They keep things out of compulsion. It’s the way something is kept shows true “loving
It is typical to look at a neat person and assume a few things. The first thing we normally assume is that this tidy person has a perfect life where everything has its place and their world must be spick and span. Or on the other hand we think “Oh no! This is another one of those O.C.D. neat-freaks.” and we watch for the neat person to adjust their pencils in a perfect formation like we see people do on television. When the author of “Neat People vs. Sloppy People”, Suzanne Britt, sees a neat person she assumes something slightly different but just as far-fetched. She assumes that a person who well-kept is inconsiderate and downright callous. She believes that neat people are wasteful, unsentimental, and mean. …show more content…
Everything is too important to throw away. Regardless of its purpose, use, or value, it must be kept. These possessions can multiply and pile up causing destructive, imprisoning clutter. Britt describes this as “loving attention to every detail” (243), but it’s nothing more than unhealthy baggage that clutters one’s mind. Sherrie Bourg Carter, phycologist and author, talks about how a cluttered environment can overwhelm a person’s mind and cause stress in “Why Mess Causes Stress: 8 Reasons 8 Remedies”. Her article explains how the mess around us can cause anxiety and create stress. Neat people live their lives without this kind of stress. Their ability to throw out unnecessary items, or what Britt might describe as being “incredibly wasteful”, gives a neat person freedom from that baggage and allows them to …show more content…
“They have cavalier attitudes toward possessions, including family heirlooms. Everything is just another dust catcher to them… No sentimental salvaging of birthday cards or the last letter a dying relative ever wrote. Into the trash it goes.” (243). These statements are very extreme and are probably the most offensive that Britt makes. She makes tidy people seem like cold robots that value cleanliness above everything else. However this is not true. Neat people are often compassionate. They keep their family heirlooms, letters from Nana, photos from vacation and other things of personal value. It is how and where they keep them that prove they care. Whether it is filing cabinets, photo albums, scrapbooks, or S.D. cards, every memory and sentimental object has a place. They keep the things they care about the most, safe and out of the way. With sloppy people, their prized possessions might lie under pile of filth or they swim in a sea of dishes. There’s no way of knowing and no way of finding them. Their sentimental items are discarded and disrespected like the garbage that clutters their desk. Just because a sloppy person keeps something doesn’t mean they care about it. They keep things out of compulsion. It’s the way something is kept shows true “loving