“One and the same mind should, for a period of some fifteen or twenty years, hold with such unbelievable and frivolous inconstancy two or three opinions which are not merely divergent but incompatible.” Here’s one for me: while I am not a neat freak in my household and am generally tolerant of the various ways people live their lives, it makes me insane when people make a mess out in public. I often will bus a table myself if someone hasn’t taken the time to do so, or clean out the bottom of a gym locker where dirty shoes have left grime.
I greatly admire the Japanese for the way they carry around their own trash bags to keep their streets tidy and have the pleasure of riding in pristine subway systems. If I were a mayor, I would have zero tolerance for destroying the public way, but I would not wish the police or city employees to enforce cleanliness, I would preach to citizens to have enough pride in their community to hold their friends and neighbors accountable.
Where do customs derive? They probably come from standards passed down through the generations, and some cultures are better at preserving them than others. But I do not take that as an excuse. We can all learn from people who do things the right way and put a little more pride into not just the massive leveraged investment you call home, but the sidewalks and train platforms as well.