‘A stitch in time saves nine’ is one of the most popular sayings used for centuries by people and elders to emphasize on the importance of time. Time is one of the most precious resources that we have and once lost, nothing can bring it back. It is like a never-ending stream of water that only moves forward and if we can’t keep up with its pace, we end up losing life’s race.
Because of this much undomesticated nature of time, man has always tried controlling time and has spent years of research on it. Man’s urge to fiddle with time is nothing new.
All the famous scientists from the age of Einstein have been constantly engaged in the process of developing something – some machine or device that can bring time back and can take them to future or past just like the famous ‘Back to the Future’ series. However not much substantial success has been obtained.
In today’s world of globalization and competition, where world has become a social village, time becomes an even more important commodity. Time is more precious than money. Being able to invest and sell shares at exactly the right times in the stock market can make one win a fortune or make one a pauper.
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Story of “A Stictch In Time Saves Nine”
To further emphasize on the point of the importance of time, nothing would be more apt than this instance from my life.
One fine Sunday evening, when I was about fifteen, I went out to buy me some food for dinner as none of my parents would be home for about two more days. They visit our ancestral home every weekend which is about a hundred kilometers from the city.
I had my exams on Monday so I had to buy food as much quickly as possible and return back home and get to studying again. But none of that was what the time devil had planned for me. On my way to the market, there lies an old dilapidated Church compound with beautiful daisies and equally tasty guavas. There was no bar of any kind on eating guavas; anyone could go and pluck the ones they wanted to relish.
However, it was fifteen minutes past six and the Church compound usually prohibits entry post six. However, seeing no one around, not even the security guard, I went inside for guavas. The orchard was quite in the inner premises from where the gate is not visible. I successfully found guavas and started eating them. After eating a few, the realization dawned upon me that it was getting dark and I should be going.
The next day was History exam and I had to finish two more chapters on Mughal empire. With a half eaten guava in my hand and the other half being in my mouth, I sprinted to the gate which to my utter dismay had been locked. I felt a cold chill through my spine. “What if I am stuck here entire night? Who will study for the exam? Are there ghosts in here?” – all these questions kept quivering in my mind. I tried to shout to get someone’s attention, but ‘Orange Town’ was a fairly scarcely populated area with very less people roaming out after dark.
After toiling for about an hour, the security guard came to my rescue. Since the Church is abandoned, the guard doesn’t stay there all time. He only comes once in two hours and for locking and unlocking the compound. He scolded me and then dropped me to the market, where I bought dinner. On my way home, I bought ice cream which I was absolutely forbidden to eat because of toothache.
Having spent on ice cream, I had to walk back home which tired me a lot. As a result, reaching home I quickly ate dinner and opened my books. As I sat to study, I realized that walking from the market to home had exhausted me tremendously, and I needed a nap before I could do anything.
So as per the devil’s lure, I decided to take a quick nap for about an hour then wake up and study the whole night for the exam. And since only two chapters were left, I did not bother myself much. So I slept.
The next day I woke up to my parents call. Their angry faces informed me that the morning was not good. And how could it even be? It was eleven o clock in the morning and I had missed my exams which had ended by ten.
I was badly rebuked by my parents and was given a punishment of not watching the television for a month. All this could have been avoided if I had studied the two small chapters, put an alarm and then slept. Just because I neglected the importance of time, I fell into such huge troubles.
That was the day I learnt my lesson. Everyone should take suit from my lesson or else will have to learn the reality in the hard way.
Conclusion
We don’t release that the time we are given can only reduce from the point we start our lives. We can’t buy time, we can’t grow time, we can’t even ask for more time; we can only lose time. But we often get swayed thinking life is too long to haste up things and end up wasting time.
If we don’t stop killing time, eventually, that time is going to kill us, relegating us into nothingness – a mere history in the stream of time, insignificant enough, not to be remembered by anyone.
However, if you enjoy the time that you wasted, it’s not wasted time. Anything that gives us pleasure of mind can never be called wastage. If time is neglected, almost all times, time rebounds and takes its revenge in the most ruthless way possible when all we are left with is to hear others say sarcastically, “A stitch in time saves nine”.
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