We all arrive into the world rather rudely, if you think about it. We come in naked, dirty and screaming and to top it all off, we very rarely arrive on time. Now this tardiness can be excused because, after all, we’re only babies. But why then do we allow this trend to continue? From birth, some people are never on time, always arriving after they say they will. No one really enjoys this; I doubt that anyone likes it when people are late. Then why don’t we all just stop being late and save each other the trouble? In a day and age when we can all be contacted, wherever we are, it seems that actually being where you are supposed to be has lost importance. If you are supposed to meet someone for lunch, but you are 20 minutes late, it’s all OK because you can call them and let them know, easing their worries and excusing your tardiness. But this ignores the main effect of not being punctual. When you tell someone that you will be somewhere at a certain time, they are putting their trust in you. The fact that they would trust you to actually show up on time shows that they have enough respect for you that they think you will honor your word. When you show up late what you are really doing is throwing this trust in the person’s face and telling them that you don’t have the same respect for them. Being punctual is a matter of respect. If you truly respect someone, then you will think of your own desires and whatever is keeping you from being on time second and the promise you made to that person first. We should get back to a time when the trust we placed in each other could not be so easily dismissed by a cell phone call. Show that you actually care about someone other than yourself and show up on time.