Does Poverty Breed Dirt? : Let’s Talk Cleanliness and Class

Cleanliness they say is next to Godliness but today, we tell a different story. If there’s one thing I’ve complained about so much in my life, it’s about how people tend to not care for themselves to the extent that it affects people around them which is bad.

Growing up, my mom taught my siblings and I the importance of being neat a an individual growing up. Right from the word go, she made us start wearing white socks, white underwears and all of that just so she could teach us how to stay neat. We all know how white is, once you mess up, that’s just it. Someone might say that it’s not a good move for a child to be in white because they will make it dirty but trust me, that wasn’t the case for myself. I think my mom making me wear and own white stuff was one of the best thing she every did for me and it was only after I grew up that I understood that trick.Then, I guarded my socks and clothes like they were gold because I didn’t want to stain them because a stain on my clothes would be a stain on my reputation. Funny right.😂

Fast forward to today, some people have made it their mission to torture others with stench each and everyday. You don’t really need to even go fat to understand what I’m taking about. Just walk around in the market or sit in a public vehicle and you’d understand me. Someone would most definitely be in there who either decided not to bath, brush their teeth, change their clothes or even use deodorant. And they seem so unbothered. Sometimes I just want to ask them if they don’t know they are smelling me everyone should know when they are smelling cos it’s your body.

Cleanliness is one of my top three non negotiables in this life because why not. And more to the point, you really don’t need the whole worlds money to stay neat. How much would it cost you to watch, probably just a small bar or soap and a bucket of water. Having clean clothes isn’t something I need to even talk about because every normal functioning human would want to wear clean clothes all the time. I know you’d say that the cost of deodorant is high these days but guess what, there’s always an alternative. Like doesn’t cost much in the market, you can get a lot of it for less that a dollar has that even works better than deodorant. As for brushing your teeth, I don’t think I need to preach to you before you do that. It really doesn’t take much to just do all these basic stuff and save yourself the embarrassment and also save others from suffering because of you.

Not having enough money shouldn’t even be a basis for you not being neat as an individual because what has having money got to do with you sweeping your house. Being clean isn’t only about physical looks, your environment also says a lot about you even before someone gets closer to you to see how you look physically. When I was into someones house and I see that their house is unkempt , I just know the kind of person they are. I’m not talking about kids toys all around the hall because that’s typical of kids at home. I’m talking about unwashed dishes which have been stacked up for days, dust on open surfaces, rubbish all over and many more. I’m a way, your environment is really who you are because being in a dirty environment can pose a lot do health risks to you as an individual so why risk your health?

Finally, I’d just reemphasize my point that cleanliness is not dependent on how much you earn as an individual. It’s a habit, a mindset. However, I believe this topic is subjective. Thanks for reading.

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all images belong to me.

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