“Better late than never” is an ancient proverb with a deep hidden meaning.
Time and again all of us are told to complete the tasks assigned to us on time and being lazy most of us fail to do any assigned work on time. The result is we completely avoid the work and stop doing it further. Yes it is essential to finish a work on time but what is more important is finishing the work. Here comes the significance of the proverb “better late than never” which means that it is all right to be late in completing an activity than never doing it.What is essential is doing the work.
This proverb can be best explained with the example of the story of the rabbit and the tortoise. Once upon a time, a rabbit and a tortoise decided to compete for a race. The rabbit laughed at the tortoise for even thinking about competing with him and therefore he was confident that he will win. They started the race and the rabbit started running.
After a few miles, he turned back and saw that the tortoise was completely out of sight.He thought that the tortoise can never win the race and since it was out of his sight, he decided to take a nap. While he was sleeping the tortoise surpassed him and won the race. Because of the ability of running fast, the rabbit was obviously going to win. But the tortoise very well knew the importance of the phrase “better late than never” and thus it started competing slowly, but steadily and thus won the race. It is also important to note that if an individual starts doing a work, today or tomorrow he or she is bound to finish the work and succeed.
Thinking that it is impossible to complete a work will result in the work being never completed because it was not even started at the first place. It is human nature that when one notices that a work is difficult he or she simply decides to quit, what is important here is to understand the fact that quitting should never even be considered as an option. Slow and steady can also win the race. All the students are of different nature, if a student decides that he or she will study throughout the year, that individual will stand first or second in the class.There are also students who study a night before the exam.
These students also get promoted to the next class. But can a student who does not study at all or who studies after the exam is promoted to the next class. The answer is No. it is better to study late, at the last moment also that to escape studying totally.
Similarly goes the saying; it is better to complete a task late than never doing it or than avoiding it completely.
