(Before reading this, please read "The Theology of Shopping Carts". It's short, and doesn't bite.)
Ma'at is frequently described in terms of community, of community effort, of communitarian thinking. It does not always seem to me that it is entirely clear why that is so.
The theology holds that when we seek purity, it makes it more possible for the gods to seek purity -- one ritual formulation goes, "I am pure, my Netjer is pure." This is a communitarian ethic, a mystery of community. It's also not entirely transparent.
But I go back to the shopping carts.
When I put my shopping cart away, I simply uphold my little piece of ma'at. I behave as an individual, taking an action that does not touch anyone else.
But by simply upholding ma'at in this way, I make life easier for everyone around me.
I do not leave the shopping cart in a parking space or, worse, in the middle of the driving way, causing every driver or person looking for a place to park a difficulty.
I make it easier for the people who bring the carts into the store, by putting it in the proper place, aligned cleanly, ready to be taken away.
I make it easier for subsequent shoppers, who might otherwise have to deal with missing or misplaced shopping carts.
All by the small thing, the tiny upholding of ma'at. Because I chose to put the shopping cart away, the entire community has an easier time acting in ma'at. The cart put away in an orderly fashion means that nobody has to struggle to get their own cart into the return. The cart put away at all means that no additional stress and aggravation is gathered in the parking lot and then taken away to other places.
It is the action of an individual, and an individual choice, but the weight of the action winds up, eventually, being quite broad. It touches more than the tiny moment of the extra few seconds required to put the cart away, and expands out into the community.