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On Punctuality

2018-04-03 · letter vlog · John · 3:17 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal essay

John, who has made 323 consecutive Tuesday videos bar two illnesses, calls punctuality the cardinal virtue he suspects himself of, a way to value others' time; reading E.B. White on punctuality disturbing the peace, he concludes that extreme punctuality can become a vice.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — 323rd consecutive Tuesday video, missed only for meningitis and labyrinthitis

  • ★★ John says this is the 323rd consecutive Tuesday he has made a Vlogbrothers video, except one Tuesday with meningitis and another with labyrinthitis. — 00:00:01 · Vlogbrothers

00:00:15 — John's punctuality: calls, doctor, airport; Gatsby's cardinal virtues; Rosianna; valuing others' time

  • ★★ John usually uploads on time because he is a punctual person: he joins conference calls exactly one minute before they begin. — 00:00:15
  • ★★ John arrives at the doctor exactly 15 minutes early and must reach the airport at least 90 minutes before a flight, or there is a five-alarm fire in his brain. — 00:00:23
  • ★★ John cites Nick's Gatsby line that everyone suspects himself of a cardinal virtue (Nick's is honesty), and asks if Nick arrives at Gatsby's party exactly on time, as John would. (playful) — 00:00:39

  • ★★★ Punctuality is the cardinal virtue John suspects himself of: he might not be calm, pleasant or good, but he will be on time. — 00:00:57

    “Punctuality is the cardinal virtue I suspect myself of.”

  • ★ John likes it when others value punctuality: Rosianna once called it the most important commandment on the tablets, perhaps not kidding, and is always two minutes early. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:04 · Rosianna Halse Rojas

  • ★★★ To John, being punctual tells others he values their time enough to show up when agreed, or slightly earlier. — 00:01:13
  • ★★★ John thinks this matters because ultimately time is all we have, overwhelmingly the most important human resource. (hedged) — 00:01:23

00:01:30 — Identifying with an ideal; E.B. White on teaching punctuality and trains; extreme punctuality as a vice

  • ★★★ Identifying so closely with an ideal that it defines you (husband, father, punctual person) makes it seem inseparable from good, and makes disagreeing voices hard to hear. — 00:01:30
  • ★★ E.B. White, best known as the author of Charlotte's Web, was also a brilliant magazine writer; John was recently reading a collection of his. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ E. B. White (quoted): White wrote that we teach our child almost nothing we believe in but teach punctuality, especially if enforcing it disturbs the peace; his father taught that missing a train was life's greatest defeat. — 00:02:02
  • ★★★ E. B. White (quoted): White wrote that only after many years did he learn an escaping train carries away nothing vital to his health; trains are so magnificent we mistake them for destiny. — 00:02:17
  • ★★★ John has defended his punctuality absolutism as respect for others' time, but asks whether yelling at his family to avoid being 86 minutes early is respect or disturbing the peace. — 00:02:29
  • ★★ John has never missed a train or a flight, but until reading White it never occurred to him that an escaping train carries nothing vital to his health. — 00:02:42
  • ★★★ John still values punctuality, but lately he has been thinking that, as with so many things, extreme punctuality can become a vice. (hedged) — 00:02:53
  • ★★★ Even when what you worship is good and noble, John says, it doesn't always make you better or nobler. — 00:02:59

00:03:04 — Packing for spring break; trying to be less early; sign-off

  • ★★ John must pack for the family's spring break trip, flying out in the morning; he won't miss the flight but will try to be less early. (hedged) — 00:03:04

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description calls this a video about punctuality that is also kind of a video about everything else in 2018. (hedged) — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: E. B. White · punctuality

Also: Charlotte's Web · Jay Gatsby · labyrinthitis · meningitis · Nick Carraway · personal identity · Rosianna Halse Rojas · The Great Gatsby

Also centred on punctuality: How to Stop Being Late Forever (advice for myself and other chronically late people)

Later videos replying to this one