"that's not punk rock"

I have more to write about the last couple days when I was once again relocated within my tribe, but for now I want to write about an anecdote the 2 girls who stayed with us the past few days told me that pisses me off. 

the new term for kids living on the road now is "traveler kids," apparently, and they've got a batch of new terms I wasn't familiar with.  one of them is "oogle," which is someone who tries to be the hardestcore of all.  (I explained in my day we called them "assholes.")  these 2 sisters knew 1 guy that they say no one liked so everyone called him "oogeleven" (I guess cuz he went to 11?) and who had stolen from people he stayed with, claiming that to do so was an understood part of sofa surfing (and I would suspect would make constantly moving from place to place mandatory).  at 1 point when they were around oogeleven was drinking at the punk house 1 of the sisters lived in in kalamazoo and swilled until he got sick.  he leaned forward on the floor on which he was sitting and puked and then leaned back and drank some more.

he made no move to clean up after himself.  eventually someone asked him if he was going to clean his puke up.  "no," he said.  "that's not punk rock."

let me make this clear.  he's right but only if he was admitting he was not behaving in a punkfriendly manner; not cleaning up after onself is not punk rock.  it's fuckedup.  one of the primary definitions of the punk movement is d.i.y.--do it yerself.  that involves cleaning up after yourself as well as, say, having an experience yourself.  we don't disengage from community when we join this tribe, we just locate ourselves in a different community, and a part of that is following the basic commandment jesus and prophets in other traditions recognized--treat others the way you'd like to be treated.  in words of single syllables:  don't puke on floors (either metaphorically or literally) and not clean it up.

we don't want to live as isolated individuals because that seriously hurts us, not only when we are with others but on our own.  if you have occasion to be in a room with oogeleven, remind him of this, perhaps with a gentle slap to the back of his head.  if you are hosting oogeleven, begin the cleanup process with him by taking him firmly by the scruff of the neck and using him to wipe the floor.