One day in January 2018, a meeting was held at the UK Parliament Building at 3 p.m. Michael Bates, the Deputy Minister for the Department for International Development, was supposed to answer questions about income inequality during the meeting; however, he came to the meeting and suddenly announced his intention to resign. His reason was because he arrived a few minutes late.
“I sincerely apologize for having failed to make it on time from the beginning of a very important meeting to answer inquiries. I am ashamed of it. I will immediately submit my resignation to the Prime Minister.”
People usually apologize to others if they are not on time, and move on. Michael Bates, however, did not regard his tardiness as a small mistake. He was willing to take responsibility for his action since he had been carrying out public affairs with the belief that when responding to legal inquiries by legislatures, you should behave in the best manner. The congress members objected his resignation, and the Prime Minister refused to accept it. In the end, his resignation was declined and they wrapped up the day.
You may think when you are late, ‘It’s just a few minutes late.’ We must understand, however, in a society that values morality and ethics, punctuality is fundamental. From the attitude of a public official who knows how to take responsibility for their errors, we must come to examine ourselves and how we should cope with our mistakes.