If you don't do it, who will?

My mom uttered a phrase throughout my childhood that I hated. "If you don't do it, who will?" It applied to any variety of situations. If we came across a wadded up piece of paper on the sidewalk, she'd say, "If you don't pick it up, who will?" I would always feel guilty, imagining some poor little old lady trying to bed over to pick up someone else's trash and having a heart attack while doing it. Once I had seen the paper, it was now my trash, my responsibility. If I didn't do the dishes, my mom would say "If you don't do it, who will?" I pictured my poor mom washing the sinkfull of dishes after I had dirtied them. Again, Guilt.

So, I find myself cleaning the apartment in my basement we have rented out since we moved into this house 7 years ago. This last renter was, well...... not clean! It took 4 hours to clean the bathroom, and it still isn't finished. It took me 3 hours to do the counter and cabinets, and I'm still not done. There's trash everywhere, strange un-nameable things are stuck to the walls. There are suspicious stains all over the carpeting, and it reeks. I am reminded of what my mom always said. Why should I have to clean up someone else's mess? Why should I dry-heave while scraping off stubborn sticky attrocities