Cleaning for College Credit

While driving home one day during spring break, I found it necessary to stop at a local park's restroom. Upon entering the facility, I realized that the restroom was very filthy. Little pieces of toilet paper littered the floor, while the sink looked like it had not been cleaned in many weeks. The restroom's condition made it an obvious choice for this extra credit assignment. I decided that I would hurry home to grab my cleaning supplies so that I could come back and clean the mess.
When I returned, I immediately started to sweep the floor. I felt happy as I cleaned, although, I was not responsible for making the mess. Taking responsibility for it increased my self esteem, in that, I felt that I was actually doing something that needed to be done. The thirty minutes that the cleaning took was time well spent. Yet, judging from the reaction of one of the two individuals who observed me cleaning the restroom, not everyone would agree with me.
As I finished cleaning the sink, a middle aged man in a business suit walked in. I told him hello, to which, he did not reply, as I moved to the stall doors so that I could wipe them down, in addition to giving the man some privacy. After finishing his business, the man walked to the sink. I wanted to tell him why I was cleaning, yet, he was trying very hard to ignore me. After the man washed his hands, he proceeded to dry them with paper towels. To my amazement, this man dropped each of the used paper towels on the floor around the sink. I was speechless. Why would he do this? Before I could ask him, he hurried out the door.
The next person was also a middle aged man, though, he was dressed in jeans and a thick winter jacket. Walking toward the sink, he glanced at me and asked if the city was "working me hard". I replied that I was not a city worker, and I informed him about my reasons for cleaning. The man seemed confused. He asked me if I thought that I was a little too old to be a college student. I mentioned to him that I did during my first college semester, but, upon finding that many people my age were going, my beliefs changed. He smiled and then said that he was glad because the restroom had never looked cleaner. He said goodbye and good luck, as he walked out the door. It seemed that he liked the results of my taking responsibility for the mess.
On the other hand, the first man seemed unimpressed and highly intent on creating more work for me. Whether his mood or bad habits caused him to blatantly dirty the freshly cleaned floor in front of me is unknown. It seems that this man, if he was conscious of what he was doing, might have been trying to amplify my supposed subordinate status of janitor. Indeed, I have experienced many people who do these types of things to boost their own self esteem. If he did it through habit, I feel sorry for those who clean any of the places he frequents. His reaction to my cleaning the restroom was a far cry from the somewhat supportive reaction of the other man.
Initially, I predicted that people would be supportive of what I was doing, yet, there would also be some that did not care. I was not prepared for the actions of the man who dirtied the floor in front of me. Since I do not know the reasons for what he did, I have to classify him to the "did not care" group of my mini theory. The reaction of the second, and nicer, man was supportive, though, he thought I was too old to be a college student. The compliment he gave me for the cleanliness of the restroom is not as supportive as him helping me to clean, yet, it was greatly appreciated.
In addition to allowing some study of the human reaction to someone going outside the norm of our society, the bathroom cleaning study reminded me that, whether a problem is my own or another person's, it is satisfying to take responsibility for it, working to solve it, and knowing that, in some very small way, my effort has made the world a better place. If the majority of people on Earth hungered for this feeling of accomplishment, and the resulting benefit to their self esteem, can you imagine the impact that these random acts of responsibility could have?