I know many of us have tried to take a closer look at our actions because of the happenings of the past months. We have tried to speak more forcefully about our patriotism and the overall need to help people around the globe. We have made some pertinent moves to embrace others who might not have thought the way we do or speak in different ways about similar actions. This got me to thinking about the way we act and if it has any relevance to the times in which we live.

Have you wondered about the term "manners" and thought about what that word meant in earlier times? Have you ever bothered to open a dictionary and look at one of the various definitions - one that says "polite ways of social behavior?" Do your parents or grandparents ever shake their heads and mumble under their breaths about the loss of manners and the seeming disregard for the feelings and sensibilities of others?

I was talking with a young lady (of 70 or so) at Jacobson's awhile ago, and she was saying how manners seemed to have simply fallen away from the entire population. We talked about how things had changed from when she and I were children. I guess that I would like to pursue the whole issue of missed manners. Are they all gone, still around, some in place or simply atrophied?

Let's look across campus and contemplate some of the missed manners that you can see on a daily basis. IM Sports-East is one good place to start. How about the general deportment in the locker facilities? I am not sure if this applies in the women's locker room, but I can speak for the men's side when I think about the behavior of the "adults" who use the facility.

Have you ever had the joy of being in the changing area with Bob or George or Eric, the water sprites? They enjoy traipsing in and out of the shower (at least three or four times a shower) dripping water and soap scum over every inch of open floor. They seem to love to parade back and forth creating mild tsunamis as the floor becomes a dangerous wetland. They then maximize their lack of manners by making sure they only choose the locker directly next to yours. I think it is truly an interesting state when people feel that it is socially acceptable to constantly bump into people when you are changing. I think that this could have gotten a sword thrust in days of old.

But it doesn't stop at the locker room door. You run into these same darlings when you stop for a bite to eat at the International Center. They are usually still dripping a bit from the lack of drying time at the IM. Here in the International Center they navigate the lines and the tables with cell phones - not one but at least two. Since they assume that the entire world is deaf or that same world is vitally interested in every nuance of their conversations, they must speak at an increased decibel level to share their relatively worthless conversations with everyone. But what can one expect of individuals who probably grew up in environments where they were never listened to, where their self-worth was basically worthless and their instructions in basic human manners were nil?

From the International Center they skip freely to their cars (cars that are unregistered even if that registration is required on campus) and roar out onto the highways and byways of campus. You can always tell the truly mannerless people by their complete disregard for anyone but themselves. They careen through crosswalks; turn into pedestrians as they roar through red lights that distinctly say, "NO TURN ON RED," and drive recklessly on every street. No manners? Yes, sorry to say, no manners. In earlier days they would have been trained but not today.

Manners are something in which we are definitely trained. We do not suddenly sprout halos and become wonderful people. We learn from those around us, and there are many who have never learned anything.

But getting back to the first definition alluded to, "polite ways of social behavior," there is another section to the dictionary definition that raises some questions for those of us who are a little older. That definition alludes to, "prevailing social conditions or customs." That prevailing part causes me some concern.

Perhaps we have moved into a new set of customary manners. We no longer respect the private space of individuals and smoke as much as we can in the immediate proximity of others. We seem to enjoy our ability to drop ashes into other people's food because manners are really dead. We stand in doorways belching smoke into the faces of asthmatics because we feel we have a right to do so, and no one says anything to the contrary. There are so many examples of missed manners that we could go on for pages. I think we have all experienced those who really have never learned to be civilized.

Has the old hierarchy of manners become passé and left us completely? I am not sure.

I wonder if we somehow lost our focus on courtesy and ability to think of how we function as part of a larger unit, a unit much larger than our own egocentric worlds. Manners require education, and it's here at the university that we can all step back and evaluate what we as members of the 21st century convey to those around us. Are we perceived as intelligent, cultured assets to the modern world or simply slugs that most of the world would just as soon avoid?

The world is going to spend a great deal of time now investigating us with a microscope. It is imperative that as we make our claims of superiority in all things human we not be caught by our fellow humans in one gigantic lie. We can't just claim to be outstanding people - we have to live as quality people.

Craig Gunn is an academic specialist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Reach him at gunn@egr.msu.edu.