Saturday, January 21, 2006

Punctuality is fast becoming a lost trait in today's world, and that is indeed a sad fact. What people do not realise is that it is in fact an inconsiderate action which often snowballs. You have one person late at the start of the day, and the undesirable effects would only be passed on from one person to another (or even more) and at the end of the day too much time would have been lost.

I am indeed a stickler for time and punctuality, and where once it would have been considered a virtue, I'm afraid now it's becoming an odd quirk. I hate getting my schedule messed up through no fault of my own, especially when I see no valid reason for being late. It just drives home the fact that these latecomers has no respect for the time of others. Be it for church or social gatherings, you will often see people who turn up late.

The negative externality is that often the "early birds" end up waiting for these people before they can start. Would these same people dare to turn up late for work repeatedly? Probably not. That just goes to show their priorities, and the low level which us as their friends or even God Himself stand on their calendar.

Similarly, I am equally irked when people cancel appointments at last notice. The end result is that I will probably have to shift and play around with my other appointments just to make up for it. After years of doing so, I have begun not to pay heed to these "cancelled appointments", if they were not done so with good reason. If I feel that I have not been allocated the proper amount of respect, I will accordingly fail to reciprocate. I will not compromise on my stand on this.