Someone has very aptly and wisely said that a stitch in time saves nine. It contains an invaluable piece of sane advice, which we constantly hear from our teachers in school and elders at home. This highly useful, didactic dictate applies to every field of activity.
It implies that work done in time saves a lot of labour, later on. To illustrate it further, it can be said that suppose there is a tear in your shirt, the wisest thing is to stitch it up without any delay, otherwise there will be tears all the way down, which would require a lot more labour and time to put a patch on it. And the final effect too would not be as tidy as it would have been, if it had been stitched during the initial stage.
Again, the same principle applies as regards your lessons. If one does not study through the year and hopes to pass examinations only by studying at the last moment, much more effort and time will have to be put in at the eleventh hour and still the retention would not be as effective as it would have been, if the work was done regularly through the year.
Yet again, a delayed action quite often causes serious misunderstanding and even loss of friendship, where replying to letters is concerned. Certainly, letter-writing is not everyone’s cup of tea, but certain tasks have to be done and it is the best if they are done without losing any time.
For instance, if one postpones replying to a friend’s or a relative’s letter, the other person might feel humiliated, thinking that one does not care for him or her enough. It would require one to make excuses and apologize again and again to pacify the person concerned. Is it not then better to reply to a letter in time, rather than come out with false excuses at the last moment?
Taking the right action at an opportunity time is even more important where friendship is concerned. A wrong action committed knowingly or