The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it - Franklin P. Jones I chair a committee for a nonprofit and the other night was our rescheduled (due to snow) monthly meeting. This month our meeting was to begin 15 minutes earlier than our past meetings. In various emails that I sent out, I highlighted and highlighted, reminding folks that our meeting would begin at 7:15 p.m. Because I had carpool duty, I picked up my son and some other children at 6:00 p.m. and drove home through heavy traffic. Got home, made sure everyone had dinner and turned around to leave for my meeting.
I arrived only a few minutes early. I truly feel compelled to be on time because of what I do for a living. It goes with the territory and as chair, I need to be on time.
I settled into the room that we would be meeting in, not our usual meeting room. 7:15 p.m., 7:20 p.m., 7:25 p.m. …still no one. I was thinking to myself, of course, because I was the only one there, “If I can be on time and have to travel the farthest distance, why can’t anyone else be prompt?” As I was waiting in the foyer, looking out to the parking lot, in hopes that someone would arrive, I noticed a piece of paper on a table in the room we usually meet in. I thought that someone may have left me a note so I checked it out.
There was a slip of paper on the table that had a quotation on it from Rabbi Hillel, “Judge not thy friend until thou standest in his place.” Perhaps this was some divine message meant for me at that exact moment. After reading it, I took a deep breath and smiled.