Yep, manners are DEAD

Please allow me to preface this with the knowledge that I break out in cold sweats when I find myself at a dinner table with multiple glasses or worse; more than one fork. And yes, when I make my annual pilgrimage to church on Easter Sunday my Grandmother continues to scowl at the fact that I have donned un-creased slacks instead of a pastel dress.

But if you are a person fortunate enough not to have been raised by a pack of wolves, there are a handful of common sense rules of politeness that should be pretty standard issue, especially here at school.

A few actions I witnessed this week on campus led me to near violent fits of rage and tyrannical outbursts. Fortunately I was polite enough to refrain.

CELL PHONES

During a group presentation that counted as our class' final exam grade, I watched each of the members of our assigned team take their turn to speak. One student, after narrating her piece of the project, reached into the breast pocket of her jacket to retrieve her cell phone.

I gave her the benefit of a doubt; maybe she was checking the time. Her eyes scanned the images her sleek smart-phone, followed by a chuckle. A chuckle! She then proceeded to write a thoughtful response to the message before replacing the phone in her pocket. A few moments later an ambiguous buzz prompted her to once more locate the phone, followed by another chuckle.

I know it's rude to stare, but I was shocked! While I was trying to scrape my jaw off the floor I was again surprised to discover that that only a handful of students seemed to be as shocked as I was.

The check out counter at the grocery store, the car swerving in front of one on the interstate, and obnoxious beeps on the fifth floor of our library are constant reminders of how cell phones provide new and improved ways for people to showcase how base, dumb, and absolutely inconsiderate they can be.

One could stand on a soap box for days dissecting the ways constant communication is killing our culture, but I have more shocking tales of rudeness to expose.

BATHROOMS

Again, this is a subject that is a constant source of pity and rage for my fellow man.

While washing up after class and attempting to snake charm my medusa mane, a fellow lady student walked out of a restroom stall as I was collecting my things. We were the only two in a bathroom equipped with six stalls and four sinks.

We exchanged polite bathroom smiles, and as I turn from the sink she exits the stall, puts her potentially poop covered hand on the knob of the bathroom door, and vacates the woman's restroom. [Insert expletive] come on! I too have to touch the poop knob now, or be forever trapped in the Aderhold loo.

In a perfect world this gal has a gallon jug of Purell in her backpack, but ours is not a perfect world. Infesting the door knobs and handrails on the world with your excrement, sneezing on keyboards and coughing without a hand in front of your face to catch your nasty mouth juice is not only super-icky-gross, it's top three on my rudest things ever list!   

MERGING

I don't have it in me to fight the good fight that is road rage…but let me start with this one battle.

OK, Mr. Toyota Prius, with your clean emissions, how did you get on the interstate today? Where you dropped from the heavens, magically becoming one with rush hour traffic? No, you had to merge on to the roadway. Funny, I too am attempting to make my way on to the Connector. The only problem with that, Mr. Toyota Prius, is that as I slap on my blinker to let you know I'm coming, I see you accelerate in an attempt to pass me before I am safely on the highway.

The bad news is that you are softer than the brick wall I am about to hit, so I continue my journey into traffic. The good news is you have decent brakes.

After my fellow commuter let me know they were not pleased with my necessary merge, (I received a plethora of honks and strange gestures until Courtland Street), they proceeded to cut me off at my exit. I soon learned that aside from being environmentally conscious, they too attend Georgia State University. Great, I bet you cash money that I end up sitting next to this jerk next semester.

How can nice descent people get behind the wheel of an automobile only to become raving lunatics? We forget that a minor car crash could really hurt or kill someone. We forget that the person in the other car is a person.

Would you flick someone off in the grocery store, if their cart came too close to you in the freezer isle because they are pricing a Totino's Pizza? No, you would be polite and say, "Excuse me."

As you wade through the un-pushed-in chairs of our classrooms and step over the trash in our courtyard, keep in mind that we are all in this together. Politeness isn't a formal courtesy; it is looking out for your fellow student, paying it forward, you know…golden rule type stuff.

As we embark on this Holiday season, let's try and use an empathetic eye and think about the decisions we make and how they impact others. If this is possible I think our campus next semester will be a happy place.