“You can’t escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
–Abraham Lincoln
Most of us have a strong tendency to put off until tomorrow many things that should be done today. We do so as individuals, and we do so as a nation.
Parents are often guilty of postponing parental responsibilities until it is too late. Our children need love and nurturing from the day they are born. Studies have shown that most children who get ample love and care during their first few years of life are far less insecure as adults than their counterparts who are shortchanged during the early years.
Some parents are so busy building careers that they tend to postpone spending time with their children until their careers are better established. They rationalize that the time spent on their careers is really for the long-term benefit of the children, and they vow to make it up to their children by spending more time with them later on. Unfortunately, the children are often adults by the time the parents conclude that they can afford to spend more time with them.
Personal health is another area in which failing to be responsible in the present can have dire consequences in the future. Smokers often tell themselves that they will quit smoking before it has severely impacted their health, but they can’t quit today because of all the stress they are under. People with poor dietary habits vow to do better in the future, but today is not the right time to begin. And people who know they are not getting sufficient exercise promise themselves they will begin an exercise program soon, but not today.
The United States government has for years spent more than it has collected in revenue, causing the public debt to soar from $1 trillion in 1981 to nearly $18 trillion today. Just as you and I must live within our means, the government cannot continue to spend tomorrow’s money for today’s government. We are mortgaging our children’s future by borrowing massive amounts of money with which to operate today’s government.
The long and the short of it is that putting off until tomorrow actions that we know we should take today often results in serious consequences farther down the road of life. Procrastination is a problem for all of us, but it can also be one of the most dangerous things we can do. Is there really any good reason why we should put off until tomorrow anything that we can and should do today?
Think about it.
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Copyright 2024
Allen W. Smith
