[Points: What it means—importance—an unpunctual man's difficulties—examples—unpunctuality is discourteous to others —conclusion.]
Punctuality means keeping to the appointed or fixed hour. Nothing can stop the flow of time or call back a time that is past. So it is a most valuable thing. in order that no portion of this priceless thing may be wasted, people fix definite hours for definite works. The more we keep to these hours, the more can we use our time. In fact, a punctual man, however busy or engaged, finds time for more work still. An unpunctual man, on the other hand, far from doing much, cannot finish his normal duties even. So he incurs the displeasure of everybody and fails in life. Let us take a few examples. A student who comes late to his class misses a part of the lesson that day and also causes disturbance to others. An unpunctual officer upsets the day's programme not only of his own self, but also of those who have dealings with him. In the military fields delay by a few minutes may result in the loss of an empire and change in the destiny of a nation. Napo leon lost the Battle of Waterloo simply because a Marshal of his was a few minutes too late to come to his chief's side. And Waterloo decided the fate of Europe for many years.
There is another aspect of the matter. Want of punctuality reveals want of culture and is discourteous to the person we fail. If I have an engagement with a high person, I shall certainly appear before him at the appointed time at any cost. This is because I ha a high regard for him. But when I fail to observe this panctuality with another person, it means that I do not regard him as important enough or do not care for what he may feel. This is a slight to him. That is why unpunctuality produces such a bad impression on the minds of others.
The habit of punctuality is almost natural with the western people: but we are rather careless about it. We still find public or private engagements beginning work much behind the appointed time. This has to be remedied if we are to keep pace with the modern world.
