When getting a job away from home, the first tasks often include some form of cleaning and organizing, 

either with a broom or with a computer mouse. 

Cleaning and organizing gives a new employee the opportunity to learn the business, 

either on the computer, or in the storeroom, or in the hardware store. 

I used to work part-time in a hardware store. 

Dusting and stocking shelves helped me learn where things belonged. 

And cleaning makes a business safer and more attractive, both to shop in and to work in. 

If you feel that cleaning and organizing is a low-life job, consider astronauts. 

Three people in a small spaceship, with food and body fluids and no hotel maids to clean up after them. 

And they have to be very good at packing and organizing, to get everything they need in the spacecraft and move stuff around while they are in space. 

And what if someone does work full-time as a hotel maid? 

That’s cool. 

All honest work is honorable work. 

I used to work on a hospital's cleaning crew. 

Cleaning needs to be done, if you want your children to be born in a clean birthing room, 

or want to spend the night in a clean motel room. 

That fact alone should give you respect for the people that do the work correctly. 

But speaking of being a cleaning-and-organizing astronaut, 

what does it take to  “#BeAnAstronaut? 

"Astronaut requirements have changed with NASA's goals and missions. 

Today, to be considered for an astronaut position, applicants must meet the following qualifications: 

1. Be a U.S. citizen 

2. Possess a master's degree* in a STEM field, including engineering, biological science, physical science, 

3. Have at least two years of related professional experience obtained after degree completion or at least 1,000 hours 

    pilot-in-command time on jet aircraft. 

4. Be able to pass the NASA long-duration flight astronaut physical."

5. Be able to eat popcorn in weightlessness. (Joke, I made up #5) 

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/F_Astronaut_Requirements.html 

So then, don’t look down on cleaning and organizing. 

Cleaning is an important part of a successful space mission, part of a successful business day, and part of a happy home.

Eric J. Rose
middlegrademysteries.com

photo: Pinterest