Promises not to be made lightly.

Be Trustworthy. 
《弟子规》--信篇

事非宜　勿轻诺　苟轻诺　进退错

When you are asked to do something that is appropriate or inappropriate (or bad), do not promise lightly. If you promise lightly, you may be wrong either way(fulfilling it or breaking it). 
You need to ask yourself whether you have the time, capability and means to truly fulfill that promise (or what you say).   

I failed to be a man of my words in some situation (FLAWS) REPENT！

Incident 1:  

When I am in JC, after JC2 I went to work in Fairprice NTUC. When those aunties colleagues asked me to continue working on weekend, i said i can beamingly. To them, i had promised to help them and reduce their load during the busy weekends when many people shop in the supermarket. Yes i did say i can work without pondering whether I really can or not! I returned to school and i realized that to work in weekend is far too taxing for me, i will be unable to cope well. I will be neglecting studies at the expense of work! To keep the promise, my studies will be affected as I would have morality class (Chinese values class on Sunday) and work both on Saturday and Sunday. There is no time for studies. On the other hand, i will have to break the promise 'to stay to work' and eat my own words. My final decision was to leave work totally. I knew those senior people were unhappy about it as i broke my promise and go against what i said initially! Promise broken! i felt really guilty about it! I repent for it. i will not do it again.

After some time, I went to work in another company. When my office boss and senior colleagues asked to return and work during my vacation in university, I did not agree directly with a "yes". Instead I simply beam (smile) all the way through. I do not want to break people's heart, I do not want to go against my words! My warehouse boss taught me something. He said: "Never promise because promises are meant to be broken." I will never know what will happen in the future so i do not want to make blank promises and let people down. I change for the better.

Incident 2:  

One day, grandmother was being pestered by a debt company and she was very annoyed by the letter saying some person owe $800+. I told grandma that it is better to call and clarify the situation. I called the debt company and told them that the person who owe them money doesn't live in grandma house.The man asked me to help them by reporting the case to police. I just wanna be nice and i agreed without thinking! After I ended the call and told grandma the actions needed. She got angry and did not allow me to do so. She even called the company and scolded the person attending to her. She believed it is none of her business and to tell the police will put her into deep trouble. Despite agreeing to help, given the present situation, i wasn't able to do it. 有余力而力不足。I need to go against my words, sign! I even missed their call and didn't return their missed calls as i do not know how to face the music. I am sorry i cannot help! I knew I shouldn't even agree to help as i was not in the position to report to the police. I felt really guilty about it! I repent on it and will be more alert by not promising lightly in the future. Fulfilling the promise and breaking it is both wrong.

(if you are interested on what happened: the debt company send a debt-collector to continuously pester my grandma and pasted the loan slip on her door. Grandma was furious and made a police call. The police came and took quite some time to settle the whole issue. The person who loan the money is the house's previous owner) 

SAINTS TEACHING: 
Do not promise lightly! Only promise when you are absolutely certain you can keep it!
Promises are made to be kept not broken.

I will make sure I can keep it before I promise anything! 

Saints and sages has so much wisdom. It is the wisdom pass down for decades and i experience it real-life! What can be passed down for hundreds and thousands of years is the gist and the most precious teachings. Cherish!