By Sondra Rodriguez, Page Editor

I love the feeling of being on time. It means my day is going according to plan with no surprises. It feels good. However, this feeling shatters into a million little pieces the moment I discover that my flight has been delayed. Even worse, when I book it to my 8 a.m. class when, God knows, I’d rather be at home drinking unhealthy amounts of coffee and watching The X-files, and discover that my professor is running a tad late.

The first and the worst are airports – breeding ground for delayed activity worldwide. Everyone has a dreadful airport story to make listeners cringe.

I recently sat in a Greek airport for 10 hours, waiting for a flight that was delayed for “technical reasons.” Once the plane arrived and all the passengers were lined up like sleepy, furious cattle, I looked out the window to see an engine dangling out the side of the plane. A few maintenance men were shining flashlights on it and looking at each other with blank stares.

A delayed flight is something I cannot control. I can, however, control the time I arrive to catch that flight. I will then accept the consequences resulting from my timeliness or tardiness.

One of the few times a flight of mine has left on time was the only time I’ve ever been late for one. It was probably my fault for buying a ticket for a 7 a.m. flight to visit a friend in New Jersey, but I wanted to get the most time out of my visit, so I booked it.My alarm clock and I suffered some sort of miscommunication, and I woke up at 6 a.m. I live about 55 miles from the airport, and once the math and airport regulations were factored in, it was clear that I would not make this flight; I was late.

As a result, I hung out in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport for six hours on stand-by. I finally got on a flight to Chicago, hung out in that airport for another three hours, then finally made it to LaGuardia a whopping 12 hours late. This traumatized me and taught me a valuable life lesson: be on time.

There is lateness that comes from something we can’t control, like a flight. Not that a delayed flight annoys me any less; I just get a little peace in the fact that there’s nothing I can do about it. But if there is something I can do about it, wouldn’t I?

For example, why not do my part to ensure that class will start and end on time?

We are in college, which means that we’re known for dragging our sleepy selves into class five minutes late. In reality, being in college means every day we’re coming closer to entering the real world, where being late can affect more than an attendance record.

Until my peers can get their acts together and quit being late, consider something a teacher told me in high school: if you’re 10 minutes early, you’re on time. If you’re on time, you’re already late. If you’re late, don’t even bother.

Unfortunately this motto won’t stop flights from being delayed, but maybe it will keep you from hanging out in airports across the nation for 12 hours because you were late.