Being on time in Germany

by Clementine Mukhwathi
 

What is being on time?, I ask myself... 

Punctuality are the fruits of planning. It can however according to the Oxford dictionary be defined as the "fact of doing something at the agreed time and not being late". It's often rare to find a man who works upon their plan being late, this is because they are walking on what has been planned, it's basically a Manifestation of what's planned prior. However, even so, the definitions of "punctuality" vary from one culture and one person to another. This takes me back the morning of the 22nd of Jan, when we had an excursion to the Mercedes Benz factory, so the plan was to leave Tubingen at 07:45. Unfortunately, in South Africa, 07:45 could mean 08:00 or even 08:30; this is what we as Africans refer to as "African time", we see nothing wrong with it because it has somehow become a part of us and our culture. I however saw the difference between South Africa and Germany together with the importance of punctuality in both countries on that day when one of us was late and was almost left behind, had we not seen him running down the road we used when we were leaving, we would have left him. It was sad but became an eye opener and a very strong lesson at the same time. The meaning to all of this came to me in a very awkward way. It might have not been directed to me or experienced by me first hand but it made me realize that this "African time" is yet another reason why South Africa is in the state it’s at, we care less about things that determine our state of well-being and because this is rooted in us, we see nothing wrong in it. In addition, it taught me the importance of planning and not living today for today or as if there's no tomorrow. As much as tomorrow is not guaranteed, give life the benefit of the doubt, we as human beings need to think of the consequences of our actions whether or not we know our tomorrow. The actions that one takes today might not affect them in the nearest future but will definitely have an impact on the fruit of their womb which is the people we regard as our future leaders. In all of this, I would say that if there's something I want to take home with me, it would be living today for both today and tomorrow. This is not just a lesson that I want to take with me, I want it to be spread amongst my siblings as well. In this way, I have hope that it will move from one child to another and eventually have an impact on most children who have the chance of being our leaders. Those who will uproot the rotten seed that our parents planted and plant a new seed of planning in advance and being punctual which will produce for them prosperity, success and achievement in benefit of today and tomorrow.