Punctuality: Politeness of Kings

IT WAS during one of my sleepless nights that I’ve encountered a reading experience that somehow encouraged me to be more particular with punctuality. I counted sheep but I was able to count almost a thousand and yet sleep refused to conquer me so I grabbed a magazine, I started leafing through its pages and the title, “Punctuality is the Politeness of the Kings” stuck me.

This article has elaborately elucidated the importance of punctuality. It said that if the King or Monarchs can be punctual, why commoners like us can’t be just as considerate. Well why can’t we?

Tardiness has started creeping into my system a few months ago, though I do come to school early, sometimes. Though I can enumerate a few acceptable and valid reasons for my shortcomings and somehow I made a great effort to improve my time management, still I allowed myself to linger on this crazy habit! My mind glimpses back to a bone-tickling, pleasure packed comment my teacher once made but took back and crushed my heart out. His statement was, “Ms. Marzan is smart, a good leader, intelligent but she always comes to school late, I don’t know if she’s a good or bad example, maybe both”. Though I was conscience stricken, I still wasn’t able to come to school on time.

As I’ve said, though I have some few good reasons why I get late often, still, I’M THE BAD GUY! I exerted tremendous efforts but it didn’t suffice. I still got to have a long wait for me to wake up from my deep slumber. I have learned that for one to be able to conquer sluggishness, he must conquer time, and to conquer time, one must have DISCIPLINE.

I usually wake up two hours before my class. I still have to prepare my things in the morning for I can’t do it in the evening. I had a habit of doing my requirements in different subjects simultaneously, late at night. I was also addicted to browsing the internet and forgetting everything that need to be done. That’s why, I usually sleep around 3 am, and wake up late, and sometimes I even ignore my alarm clock, I know most of us are guilty of that crime. I often missed half of my first subjects’ discussion, and sometimes even the activities. Changing those habits was so hard for me, I learned things the hard way. I had to be scolded by my parents, my teachers and even my friends for being late EVERYDAY. And if not for my teacher’s comment, maybe I am still MS.LATE.

As of now, I do my requirements the day they were given. I don’t browse the internet anymore if there’s nothing important to do. I don’t sleep too late, if I can help it. I started reading books around 9 pm, for me to sleep before 11, and wake up around 6 am. For the past months, I haven’t tried to be scolded by my teachers because of my tardiness. I don’t rush my requirements and I get to spend quality time with my loved ones. It is indeed great to be punctual.

Now, my friends, could we say that punctuality is the politeness of the kings and a glorifying experience for all of us ordinary people? (Kristel Marzan)