The Late Debate

Story on a theme:  LATE

“Hey Johnny, get up, you’re going to be late to your debate meeting for school,” said his father.

Johnny stirred from under the covers, “Oh dad, come on, I’m always late to that meeting and it hasn’t hurt my debating at all."

“Let me tell you a little story to help you understand better,” began his father.

“Robert was a stockbroker and he was never late to anything. He prided himself in being punctual. He felt it was important. One night he had a premonition that something terrible was going to happen and he should take his money out of the market. The next morning he promptly sold off everything at the initial buzzer of the market. About a half an hour later the entire market began to collapse and panic ensued. The day was October 29, 1929 and was infamously known from that point on as Black Tuesday, the stock market crash that set off the Great Depression here in the United States. Had Robert not been on time on that day our family fortune wouldn’t exist. Robert was your great grandfather."

“That’s very moving, Dad, now let me share a story with you,” replied Johnny as he forced himself out of bed.

“Tony was a salesman at a large firm and though he kept terrible track of time, he was nonetheless very successful at what he did. He was always in the top five percent in the sales force. When he did finally make it to the bigger meetings he always contributed something worthwhile. On what seemed like just another morning at work he had decided that getting there wasn’t a big priority and so he slept in and didn’t get up until 9:00am. As he got ready he turned on the TV. The day was September 11, 2001 and was infamously known from that point on as 9/11. Tony worked in the North Tower of the Twin Towers and he wouldn’t be alive today had he not been late to work."

His father quietly slipped out of Johnny’s room and let him get ready and never said another word about his debating ability or his lateness.