I should be packing, but instead I'm procrastinating and reading this article a friend pointed me to. It's a New York Times article from a few days ago entitled "Saying Yes to Mess" and it basically goes against the current hyper-organization trends. I thought it was appropriate to toss it into this forum for discussion, should folks be so inclined.

I thought it had some good points, but some of it was quite a bit of a stretch. This bit: "a survey conducted last year by Ajilon Professional Staffing, in Saddle Brook, N.J., which linked messy desks to higher salaries (and neat ones to salaries under $35,000)" (that's all they said about it) irked me. First of all, who says that salaries over $35,000 are a single indicator of someone's success? There are jobs (e.g. non-profit) that are fulfilling and meaningful that may fall under that bracket, especially at first. Second, what the heck does "linked" mean? It could be a spurious relationship. They way they phrased it, however, I think it will be read by the average reader as "neat is bad."

I'm not a neat person by any stretch at this point in my life, so I'm not being defensive exactly :) I just refuse to believe that it's a sign of greatness to have a room in your house that's full of junk you haven't touched in years, and that my desire to eliminate the layer of paper that seems to cover every inch of my poor little apartment is a bad thing. I guess it comes down to how much of an extreme we make anything -- first everything must be organized, now reading this article everyone must be a slob or their life is empty. Just do what works for you. If the mess bothers you, then it's worth it to spend an extra 30 minutes organizing per week. But you're not automatically a horrible human being or a bad parent if your clothes live in a pile on the floor of your closet.