The proverb, ‘A stitch in time saves nine‘ is applicable to a host of situations.
This proverb literally means that if one does not immediately sew a small hole in a garment eventually the small hole will take on the proportions of a big tear and the garment might end beyond the state of repair.
Most times, we tend to neglect small things pushing them to the back of our minds, this neglect later result in bigger losses. If there is a crack in the ceiling it is prudent to have it repaired immediately before it turns into something bigger and leads to the entire ceiling coming, crashing down someday. It makes sense for students to study a little every day, so that on the day of the examinations they are free from worry.
Despite understanding this proverb time and time again we are faced with situations in our life where a little attention in the beginning could have meant the saving of a lot of time in the end. Almost all of us at some point in our lives have misplaced our keys. If we had kept them in the right place we would have spared ourselves the time we took looking for them later.
When it comes to matters of health we are often guilty of being negligent. We continue to eat fast foods and unhealthy food totally avoiding exercise. This results in a lot of weight gain which leads to other complications like diabetes, arthritis, etc. All these complications could be avoided if we had taken care of the diet in the first place.
Timely prevention is always better than cure. When one ties one’s shoelaces, one should make sure that they are secure. It takes just a fraction of a second to do this, but most of us won’t be bothered to do it.
The result: in a few hours unknown to the wearer the shoelaces come undone and the wearer ends up tripping on one’s own shoes. This is another example of how a stitch in time saves nine.
At work we are aware that we should be taking backups on the computer. However one tends to get lazy and puts off the back up till later and often the system hangs and one ends up having to do the entire work all over again.
This proverb can be related to relationships as well. Often there are misunderstandings at home between father and mother, between children and their parents. It is important that these differences be cleared before they reach the point where they begin to change the nature of the relationship itself.
A stitch in time saves nine applies to everybody and this phrase can be applied to almost everything in our lives. Procrastination is the thief of time’, so we must make sure to make a timely stitch which will prevent us from having to make several later.
Student Author: Namrata Kandpal
Class : VII B
