Being Considerate

Oxford Dictionary defines considerate as being " Thoughtful for others " so appropriate to remind ourselves of this now and then as not being so can lead to a lot of unnecessary misunderstanding and conflict.Too often people are too self centered and uncaring for others that they become a real pain in the neck. be late for appointments is perhaps one of the most common inconsiderate acts .Knowing very well someone is waiting for you and knowing that you cant make it on time just requires a phone call to inform the person concerned of the situation which you probably created yourself.To me there is no excuse for being late for appointments if you plan your time and if you care enough about the person at the other end.Of course , given unexpected incidents like accidents you can be excused. but in KL the oft repeated and given excuse is traffic jam ...This is a poor excuse.If you travel along a certain route everyday you should know when is the jam time and given that how long it is going to take you to get from one place to another.And if it so happens that your best calculation goes awry a phone call to the waiting party will be an act of consideration isn't it ? Today the mobile phone is such a convenient gadget but some people just dont know how to use it. A person's worth is to a certain extent determined or judged by the way he manages himself. if you cant manage yourself how can you manage anything else ...your work , your family ,your friends?. I have always had no respect for people who cant manage themselves in the first instance.The stark indicators of this kind of people are those who come late for work and dont finish their work on time. Productivity is a matter of being able to cope with your work load.I remember having to skip lunch and working non stop during working hours in order to be able to get home on time and even then taking work home was not something uncommon.The important thing is getting out of the office on time and being able to complete your work.If productivity is carefully measured and if we realise that we can only do so much within the hours of work then its time to have A lot of unnecessary misunderstanding can be avoided if we are more time sensitive especially if there is someone at the other end on the waiting list.I have lived with my wife for more t 45 years and never once did we have nay problem with time as we are both time conscious people and have learnt how to adjust our schedule.For example on days when I have to leave early I make sure that I either use the bathroom way before her ( Depending on the time I usually take there ) and leave the bath vacant for her to use .That is being considerate and it simply needs a bit of intelligence and concern to ensure that there is no conflict in time . We are creatures of routine and there is no reason why we cannot be organised.Yesterday mum went to Bangkok and I noted that a few days before she had already got everything ready and I did my part ensuring that she got her foreign currency ready well before time. She need not have to ask, I used my initiative and got it for her.That is considerate.To be considerate , to think of others more than yourself is a quality which people of character have. If you cant be considerate especially over little things we can see what sort of a character you are and for there what sort of person. it takes very little to learn to be considerate but it will certainly go a long way.