A Message in Disguise - The Girl Who Wanted to Clean

“I didn’t do it because I didn’t love him. I mean, I didn’t love him, but that’s not why I did what I did. I did what I did because, well – actually, let me go back a bit. So, it was the year two-thousand-and-nineteen when it happened. See, I left my fiancé at my wedding. I know it seems like some cliché, corny movie, but it’s true. What happened is, as my dad walked me down the aisle, he whispered to me, “I’ll never stop loving you, my girl, but I’ll have something now that I’ve never had before: a court family.” See, both my parents worked in court. My older brother, Juan, was a bailiff. My older sister, Sierra (who is slightly younger than Juan) was currently in law-school, studying to become a lawyer. And, the guy I was going to marry, Gabriel, was an attorney. And, everyone always thought I would be a lawyer, too. I can’t recall actually saying that that’s what I wanted to do with my life, but I guess it was kind of assumed, the rest of my family working in court. And I have absolutely nothing against people who work in court. I don’t think anything negatively about the profession. The thing is that I just never saw myself doing that. I don’t know, that’s just how I saw it. 

“Gabriel was someone from my sister’s university, actually. Gabriel and Sierra were close friends and he came to her birthday party back home. He and I, well, I guess we sorta just clicked then. I made sure with Sierra that they had a strictly friendship-py relationship, before I interfered. And, as I suspected, she said that they were just friends. Gabriel took me on a few dates, and then, two years later, we got engaged. We started going out when I was in high school, then, the night I graduated, he took me to a basketball match, and I got proposed to on the big screen. It was so exciting. And the thing is, I always thought I loved him. I really did. But then, my father held my hand so tightly and I just felt like I was crossing to the other side…and I didn’t want to. So then, as I was standing there, facing him, running through all my thoughts, I felt unsure. When the pastor said the words, “Andrea Camila Lòpez, do you take thee Gabriel Coleman to be your lawfully wedded husband until death do you part?”, I finally heard him for the first time in his speech. And all I could think was ‘I can’t.’ So that’s what I said. There was a rumble of gasps going through the crowd of people, dramatizing those two words. ‘I can’t.’ And suddenly, I panicked, unsure what to do but then all of a sudden, I felt my feet lifting and my legs moving, and so I went with them. I ran and ran, kicking my heels of in the process to get away faster. I jerked of my veil and felt my hair, which was initially braided onto my head, fall to my shoulders. While I was running I knew people were getting up out of their seats, attempting to stop me, but I was stopping for no one. It was the craziest day of my life. Easily. And to this day I still can’t think why I ran out. I know I did, and I know I didn’t want to marry Gabriel, but the running part came naturally. It seems so dramatic, right? But to me it didn’t feel like that. And I know I wasn’t just running away from Gabriel, - who did certainly not wrong me but I him – I was running away from the life that was assigned to me. The life given to me without any choice of my own. I was very embarrassed by what I did. I felt ashamed of myself. I felt sorry for Gabriel, who must’ve been even more embarrassed, me having run out on him. 

That night after I had talked to family over and over about the whole story, they asked me, “What do you want to do with your life?” I was afraid to answer, to be entirely honest. I may not have believed myself if I heard myself say it. “I -I,” I stuttered. But when I finally said it, I knew it felt right. “I want to clean.” 

“That must have been a weird sentence to hear. I might have sounded just about insane. ‘And why is that?’ I asked myself. And I think the answer would be that nobody wanted the job of cleaning if they could help it. Children with strict parents are given chores to do at home. Adults clean streets and buildings because they need the money. But it’s no one’s first choice. And then I thought, ‘What if it was? What if someone chose to have a job that people only have because they can’t afford better?’ 

I used to, and still do, look at the earth as a beautiful place that humans are blessed with. Our world is natural, green, alive…but it was dying. The industrial revolution was a good thing for many, but not for Mother Nature. All these changes that the world had to go through…bad changes. And littering isn’t helping this conundrum. So I thought that by starting with cleaning, we could save the earth, little by little. So, that’s what I decided to do. I’ve always wanted to do something, not specifically cleaning, but something to save our planet. Lucky for me, I came from a family with money. So I didn’t need to work for payment, and worry about buying for myself. Once my family understood my idea, they were very supportive. Even Gabriel. After a few weeks, I forced myself to see him again. Although he was definitely humiliated, he also said that he realized that we weren’t meant for one another. We grew to be friends again, after time healed the wounds, and he supported me like a sister. I was actually alright with finding my own money, caring for myself but my family always went the extra mile when I needed it. I decided not to go to college, at least for the time being, so that I could work on what I wanted to do. My family bought plane tickets for me to travel to places where it’s especially grimy. And though I didn’t like the physical work, I grew to love it. I loved my broom which fitted so perfectly in my hand. I carved little pictures in my water buckets. I made my job mine. And it really wasn’t the labour that I cared for. It was the after picture. Each month I would tackle a little village. I would help educate the people of the village I cleaned and soon, they started to help me, too. Then, after I finished my work, I’d make sure the people who lived there knew how to maintain the clean state. Slowly, I grew a team. People from villages I cleaned started to follow me, and came with me when I traveled. After two years I already had a team of more than five-hundred members. People also started tipping us, and we decided to build headquarters around the world, for us to stay in when we visited a specific place. And to this day, I have never regretted my decision. At first it seemed hopeless and tiring, and even needless, but my family motived me and I was encouraged to go further. Gabriel traveled with me the first couple of times to help me, and then, when I got onto my feet, he left again to continue his job. For me, the best part was to see the end picture. The picture of a cleaner world, green and alive, as it should be. I always made sure that I left a village in satisfaction. I knew I was satisfied when this warm sensation started to grow inside my chest, a feeling of pleasure and accomplishment after long hours of work. I loved that feeling dearly. And I hope that others felt it, too. After years of working on this, I realized that I wasn’t going to study anymore. But I didn’t care. I did something I loved so much and going to university would never be able to replace that. And I didn’t think I was ever going to benefit from it, because I wanted to continue what I was doing. I didn’t want to stop cleaning. There was something else I liked about my job, and I do think it is rather obvious. Traveling was such an amazing thing that I was blessed with. I was able to visit more than a hundred different countries in a matter of years. I’ve been to countless cities and villages, and I could learn a lot from all the different cultures. I even learned a little French, Spanish and Zulu, and I can say ‘hello’ in over twenty languages! What I’ve been able to do has really been a blessing. I don’t think I would’ve ever done it if I hadn’t made the decision of cleaning in my early life. I even met my present husband on one of my travels to Austria. Now we have three beautiful children (who have children of their own now) that I could not love more! 

“Like I’ve said before, I have never ever regretted my decision in any point of my life. It’s the year two-thousand-and-seventy-eight, and I could not be more proud of the earth’s evolution. I miss the times of my travels but now I am able to just rest on our stunning planet. The earth, even though very much urbanized, is very green again. I rarely spot someone litter or do anything negative to this earth. And climate change isn’t as much of a problem anymore. The ozone layer is on its way to repair itself, and modern-day scientists predict that if we keep going on like this it will be entirely mended in a matter of a few decades. Rising temperatures and inconsistent precipitation seldom occur now. People who live on small islands don’t have to worry about their homes disappearing into the sea now. So, my message to you is, whoever and whenever you are, keep cleaning. The world is in a pretty good state right now so I suggest you keep it like that. In case of any similar troubles, just do what we did. Clean. I’m leaving this message to the ones in trouble. You won’t find me in any other interviews, so this is what you need to listen to. Please. And with that, I hope you got my message. Keep the world beautiful and pure, you future generations, this message is for you. I’m Andrea Camila Steyner. Stay safe, and keep clean.” “There, all ready to go,” Amelie smiles, closing the camera. Amelie is Andrea’s granddaughter, who knows more about the modern technology they have today. “Is it off?” Andrea made sure, unable to tell that the absence of the red light indicates that the camera is no longer filming. “Yes, Oma,” the young girl reassures. Andrea beams at her. She is too beautiful. “Oma, I’ve been meaning to ask you a question,” Amelie confesses. “Sure, my child, what is it?” Andrea watches as her granddaughter fiddles with her hands. “Well, at the end of the month I’m graduating school, and well I was wondering if, well, I should skip latter-education , or ‘university’ as you call it, like you did…?” Andrea takes a seat next to Amelia, who is still distracted with her nails. “Well, my child, it depends what you want to do with your life, what do you?” the lady asks. “I…I want to change the world, like you did,” answers Amelie. “Then change it,” replies her grandmother. “But how?” Amelie wonders aloud. Andrea puts her hand on her descendant’s lap. “Well, to change the world you need to identify a problem. What is the world struggling with right now?” Amelie thinks for a second. “Uneducated children? I don’t know-,” she suggests, but her grandma interrupts. “Yes, my child, yes! You do know! You have, since a young age, been given the gift of sharing knowledge, helping others. Why don’t you do that, change the world that way?” Amelie takes a second to respond, then says, “As in, teaching those in poverty?” Amelie’s grandma lifts her shoulders and nods, “If you find pleasure in that. But if not, there are many ways to change the world.”