I do remember my good old school
days when I learnt this proverb " A Stitch in Time Saves Nine". And to
explain this my mom had given me an example of a cloth or woolen
sweater where a single missing thread spoils the entire sweater. I was
convinced at that time that how a stitch saves a sweater or a cloth
from further damages.
In this life, we experience many
such things everyday. No matter that is cooking food or maintaining
relations with people or studies or maintaining our vehicles.
Such simple things are happening
with us but we fail to understand this. Let me recall one incidence when I
used to go on a bicycle to my school. It was monsoon in India. And my
bicycle was stuck in mud, A lot of mud...But I did not care much. I
just took of some mud with a stick and went to the school. Few days
later that wet mud solidified and became hard. Still, I went on and did
nothing about it. Finally one fine day, the chain of the bicycle simply
got damaged
and it broke. What was this??? Results of my one mistake of not cleaning the mud at a time.
Similar things happen with us everyday but we tend to neglect them.
Most of the time a stitch has to do with timely doing our activities. I
can say that it is our laziness that comes into picture most of the
times. I would be wrong if I say that this has not happened with almost
everyone who owns a vehicle. We know that the gas needs to be filled.
Still, we continue till it reaches its lowest level and then realise
that it is a high time.
Similar is the case in case of a
minor wound that turns into a major if not taken care in time...So,
again it leads to the same point that "An ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure."
Softwares, a buzzword is no
exception to this. "Backups", "Backups"....what is an importance? No
backup = 100% critical risk in software..I can say that "A backup a
day, keeps risk away...".
Similarly a simple small leak if
prevented in time will definitely save a lot in future. Money, efforts,
tensions, resources and everything will be saved.
This is also true in case of bad habits..If habits can be changed at early stage, they will save a lot in future.
Students have tendency to
complete journals at eleventh hour or studying for exam at eleventh
hour. Is that fruitful? Not sure..It works assuming all other
conditions are favourable. I do remember my first year of computer
engineering when I had decided to study for "Applied Mechanics", a
tough subject indeed, one week before exam. It happened that I had a
theft in that week at my place and the time just flew in enquires by
police, cleaning all the stuff at home and crying over the spilt milk
!! My luck still favoured me to get good marks. But I realized that we
should not procastinate.
And finally what does a stitch in
time saves? What is that nine? Nine dollars? Nine stitches? Hmmm..So,to
summarise, "If you fix a problem now when it is small it will not take
much to fix. But if you wait, the problem will get more out of hand and
require more work to repair."
But of course, it is 100% true that stitch in haste is a waste....!!
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