MAXIMUM MAXIMS
Do you have a favorite family saying? It may come from something your Grandmother used to say or it can be straight out of Ben Franklin's “Poor Richard's Almanac”. It could even be something you “made up” which is always there in the back of your mind to help you do the right thing when you have decisions to make.
It may be such a guide line is more important you than you realize, too, because we tend to cover up such homely things in favor of those with more novelty and show about them.
Mine is something my mother used to tell us when we were children and it has stuck with me all these years. It has proved itself worthy many times during my life. It is so simple and directly, I hesitate to set it forth as an “example”.
It reads: “Always leave a room better than when you found it” .
It urges me to always try make a difference, small though it might be, with everything I try to do It ,no doubt, was originally intended to concern itself with homemaking and with keep a house in good order. It still works for me and I have found that, in my particular phase of housekeeping at my desk, in my writing area other such places. The simple rule of leaving the area “better than I found it” actually eliminates a great deal work later when we finally reach that point when can do little else than rearrange things, discard clutter,or do what my Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors used to call “redding up”... putting things is order as if you were expecting company.
“Always leave a room better than you found it.” Remember that idea. The exact words may vary a great deal, to give you some leeway from time to time. It can be made less demanding: “Try to leave every room better..etc....” Or, stricter: “See to it that you always leave..etc.”.
After a while the action becomes natural. Even if I am just passing though a room, searching, let's say, looking for our always for our meandering TV “channel changer”, I find myself re-stacking magazines on a table or pushing a chair into the proper formation to help make the room “right”.
My particular maxim proves to be elastic and can be made to apply readily to many aspects of living, not just homemaking. I would imagine you might do the same, but you, first, need such an addition to your inner life before you can modify it to suit your needs.
You are welcome to use mine if you find it meets your needs.
“Always leave a room better than you found it.”
A.L.M. November 23, 2002 [c459wd]
