Topic statement: Being late is a bad habit and it causes a lot of troubles for Cambodian society.
Respecting time is an essential part of living that can help ensure success in one’s
personal life, academic life, or in the workplace. Especially, in this modern era, respecting time
is a crucial requirement for all human beings. Everything starts with self-discipline, and if one
cannot respect time then he/she cannot lead a successful, productive, or honorable life. Still,
there are many people in our society who are reckless about respecting time. This may be a result
of not placing value on punctuality. For instance, Khmer people often come late to weddings. All
people, not only Cambodians, need to understand that punctuality plays a prominent part in
forming good human behavior. There is an idiom saying, “Time is money” (The Free
Dictionary). This idiom means that time is extremely valuable, so we should use it wisely and
not let it pass idly. The habit of not respecting time is a broad topic, so in this essay, I would like
to narrow it down to “being late”. Being late is considered a bad habit and it has long been a
concern in our society. In this essay, I would like to discuss the negative effects of the habit of
being late on society and the factors that I use to ensure that I will not be late in my personal and
academic life.
To begin with, it is highly stressful to wait for someone who does not respect time.
Whenever there is a rendezvous, both parties should know that it is their obligation to appear on time. If one party does not appear on time, the other party will be worried whether something
happened to the latecomer. I often experience the stress that emanates from waiting. One of the
most unforgettable experiences in my life was during the last semester when I participated in a
group presentation. One of my team members was a half hour late for our presentation and she
had not informed the team ahead of time. She almost ruined our team's presentation because
everybody was so concerned that the presentation would fail, which strayed our team’s focus.
For her part, she had to rush to the meeting. Travelling in a hurry is particularly demanding and
dangerous as the traffic is usually extremely heavy. Stress makes you feel really unhealthy if it is
too excessive and it seems to keep cumulating with no way out. It can cause harm to you
(Dealing with stress, 2013). Thus, it is essential for everybody in society to respect time in order
to reduce the stress caused by being late.
Individuals with the habit of not respecting time illustrate that they disrespect those who
respect them. In this way, people put everything on hold and waste resources, particularly their
time, while waiting for someone. By showing up late, a person is saying through his/her actions
that other’s time is not valuable to him/her. We all know there are not many hours in a day and
as time passes by, we cannot retrieve it. A person, for example a student, can use his/her precious
time that has been slipped away by doing other productive activities such as completing
assignments, reading books, or chatting with friends. That is why, it is vital for every individual
to respect the other’s time by trying to be on time to appointments. In parallel, there are many
people who are always committed to respect the right time he/she has agreed to, in a way to give
honor as well as to respect to each other. Individually, I am rarely late for my classes because I
want to show respect to my lecturers as well as to my fellow classmates. I think it is impolite for
students to come late for classes as they disturb others.
Another negative impact of the habit of not respecting time is that it expresses a dishonest
character of the latecomer. A person who arrives late to an appointment is breaking a verbal
commitment to others which might also break any trust of others may have in him/her. In this
respect, the waiting party might think that the latecomer intentionally cheats him/her or is being
lied to if no clear reason is given. This may also lead to the cancellation of a whole project or
work. Trust is the main mechanism that establishes a good relationship among people. One
Australian communication counselor says, “Trust allows people to rely on others without feeling
obliged to protect themselves with legal precautions at every turn” (Kim, 2013). Therefore, it is
important for everyone to respect time in order to gain trust from other people if they want to
affiliate well with others in society. It will be difficult for a person to set up an appointment
again in the future if he/she had previously broken a verbal agreement with others. It takes a long
time for a person to re-build trust of others, but he/she can easily destroy it with just by being a
little of carelessness about respecting time. As a result, everybody should preserve the habit of
respecting time in order to maintain trust of other people in him/her and to keep a good
relationship among one another.
Moving onto the factors that I use to form the habit of respecting time, the first and
foremost factor is self-discipline. No matter how much advice I get from others to be punctual; it
will be useless if I do not have my own volition to respect time. I need to establish the habit of
respecting time for myself in order to ensure that I will not be late for meetings. It is not that hard
to establish the habit of respecting time and a majority of people know are aware of this
principle. My habit to be on time is very simple. In order not to be late, I usually organize my
own schedule, prepare plans ahead, allocate enough time to complete each task, and try to stick
to my schedule all the time. After forming the habit of respecting time, I still need to consciously try to uphold my plan. The habit of respecting time is not just a matter of doing so one time;
hence, I need to maintain this habit throughout my life if I want to be respected, trusted, and
successful.
Another factor to form the habit of respecting time is to impose and strengthen the
regulation on punctuality. The regulation on punctuality will force people to respect time and it
will also teach them about the merit of respecting time. There are many workplaces and
institutions in Cambodia nowadays that have imposed a regulation on punctuality. However, this
regulation has yet to be followed by Cambodian culture, people are usually tolerant to say the
least or turn a blind eye to the latecomer. Cambodians need to amend the culture of tolerance to
the latecomer if we want to form the habit of respecting time. Many workers and students in
Cambodia do not focus enough on punctuality, which may result from this lax of regulation and
adherence. If the regulation on lateness is well-enforced, most will try to stick to his/her time
schedule as he/she fears the punishments to be endured.
To sum up, it is essential for everybody in society to respect time because it can ensure
the success of one’s personal life, academic life or in the workplace. Additionally, people who
respect time can shield themselves from getting into hazards that caused by being late. The habit
of respecting time is a broad topic and in this essay, I have narrowed it to being late. The habit of
being late has long been a concern in our society since it causes a lot of troubles for Cambodian
culture such as: making people to lose trust and to disrespect one another. So, there are three
main reasons / methods people can follow to respect time: to reduce stress, to show respect, and
to be honest. I firmly believe that key factors which are important to forming the habit of
respecting time are self-discipline and the imposition and strengthening of regulation on
punctuality. Based on the discussion above, we all know how the habit of not respecting time negatively impacts one’s life in society. So, I would like to recommend to those who have not
yet formed the habit of respecting time, to start thinking about ways to improve the their own
punctuality and for those who are already committed to doing so, to keep doing so. It will also
be better for Cambodians to abandon their culture of tolerance to the latecomer and try to impose
more regulations on punctuality and enforce them for better use.
References
Kim, H. (n.d). Why trust is really important to you. Retrieved from
http://www.cuttingedgepr.com/articles/why-trust-is-really-important-to-you.asp
The Free Dictionary. (n.d). Retrieved from http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Time is money
Youth beyondblue. (n.d). Dealing with stress. Retrieved from http://www.youthbeyondblue.com/copyright-and-disclaimer/
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