Punctuality
“Seize the day”, Cried Horace about two thousand years ago. But time and tide wait for none. Time passes and passes.
Nobody can stop time’s ever-busy frigate for at best a second. It passes away throwing everything into the dark mysterious cavern of the past. Yet, it can be made full use of. Only punctuality can ensure the proper utilization of time. To think more concretely, life, be it long or short, is limited by a specified period, It is made up of time, so to say. For this reason, though life does not mean just a collection of time, we are apt to measure life by the yardstick of periods and moments. In fact, life is a small event left at the mercy of the never-ending current of evanescent time, both the beginning and the end of the event being imprisoned in the cage of time. Life is ruled by time. Punctuality means growing the flowers of life’s achievement by disciplined efforts in desert of the futile time. Punctuality means, in a metaphorical sense, binding time in works and achievements. Therefore, punctuality is to success as success is to life itself. But punctuality does not always mean working and working incessantly. Rather, it implies the systematic combination of work and leisure as well. Proper leisure is a part of proper work. In the words of a poet, “leisure is to work as the eye lid is to the eye.” Therefore leisure must be there after every work. Man wastes away many things, most of which can be gained back. But time, once wasted, can never be regained.
