My wife and I didn’t spend any time celebrating our 47th anniversary in June due to the declining health of my mother. So we decided to spend a couple of days in Chicago this past week.

We stayed in a five-star hotel where the nightly room rate was roughly equivalent to the price of a kidney on the black market, or so I am told.

One morning we were having breakfast on the sixteenth floor overlooking the skyscrapers and Lake Michigan. Well, my wife claimed the chair with the view and left me with my back to the scenery, but that’s a rant for another day.

Instead, I had a view of the people coming and going into the restaurant.

A family of three entered. Mom and daughter were dressed appropriately for the occasion. Dad, on the other hand, appeared to have rolled directly out of bed and into the elevator. He was wearing sweatpants, white socks, open-toed shoes, and what looked suspiciously like the T-shirt he had slept in the night before.

Upon closer inspection, he was sporting a two-day beard and a severe case of bedhead. In other words, he woke up, threw on whatever was lying closest to the bed, and headed down to breakfast at a five-star hotel.

I’d have wagered a dollar he hadn’t brushed his teeth either.

What has happened to people that they no longer take pride in their appearance when venturing into public? I’ve written about this before, whether it be people wearing pajamas and a hoodie to the airport or other examples of society’s growing casualness.

To me, a person’s appearance is not about wealth. It is about respect. Respect for yourself, respect for your family, and respect for those around you.

Later that morning we visited Water Tower Place on the Magnificent Mile. Once again, I saw pajama bottoms, wrinkled clothing, and hairstyles that suggested we are in short supply of hairbrushes.

The pattern repeated itself that afternoon when we boarded a crime-history bus tour. The narrator was a pleasant enough fellow, but he was dressed in gym shorts, sneakers, and a T-shirt. The driver was dressed much the same way.

As the tour progressed, the guide discussed several notorious criminals and historic events. Being somewhat of a history buff, I was familiar with some of the subjects. Before long, I caught him making a factual error.

I do not believe he was intentionally misleading anyone. In fact, he seemed like a genuinely nice fellow. My guess is that he was simply repeating information he had heard and accepted as fact.

After returning to the hotel, I checked several sources and confirmed that some of the information he presented was incorrect.

The problem was not the mistake itself. Everyone makes mistakes. The problem was that once I discovered one error, I began questioning everything else he had told us.

That evening we attended a performance of The Outsiders. I booked the show because it seemed like the best option available on a Monday night. As it turns out, it was fantastic.

Yet once again I noticed the same thing.

Many patrons had taken the time to dress appropriately for a night at the theater. Others looked as though they had simply wandered in after an afternoon nap. For a seven o’clock evening performance, I found it disappointing.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized these examples all pointed to the same issue. We seem to be living in an age where fewer people feel obligated to make an effort.

Whether it is how we dress, how we present ourselves, or how carefully we verify information before repeating it, standards seem to matter less than they once did.

Perhaps I am simply getting old. And I confess that the fellow in the sweatpants irritated me far more than he should have. Perhaps it’s because I was raised in an era when people believed certain occasions called for a little effort. Perhaps those standards were arbitrary, but they reflected a belief that some things mattered.

I still believe there is value in taking pride in your appearance, taking the time to prepare before speaking as an authority, and showing respect for the occasion at hand.

We need a little effort in how we dress, a little effort in how we prepare, and a little effort in making sure what we’re telling others is actually true.

We need a little effort in how we dress, a little effort in how we prepare, and a little effort in making sure that what we’re telling others is actually true.

In fact, society might be a better place if more people made some effort.

Our children are watching.