Daylight savings, or takings
Twice a year - every year - we succumb. In the spring we spring and in the fall we fall.
Seriously, you couldn’t make this stuff up.
Somewhere, at sometime, someone (supposedly a real person) invented the practice. It probably made sense at the time.
And time is exactly what we are talking about here. The daylight of time. The saving of time.
Daylight saving time. What does that even mean, really? Are we saving the daylight? There is only so much of it to go around, and no way - in any way - can any of us bank time or put it in a safe place for later use. Performing a switcheroo of the numbers that describe the time does nothing to impact the actual daylight we all experience in any given 24-hour time period. Period.
According to the truest source of information available – besides the media – Wiki tells us that Daylight Saving Time (or DST to the inner crowd) “is the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the longer daylight available during summer so that darkness falls at a later clock time.”
I grew up believing DST was put into place as a benefit to farmers. I grew up believing many lies. It’s lucky I survived to the point where I can tell the truth from misinformation. (If indeed that is possible.)
In fact, DST isn’t about the farmers. They often oppose it. As it turns out, cows and plants and morning dew don’t know anything about telling time on a clock; instead they follow a schedule dictated by the sun, which knows nothing of springing ahead or falling back.
The origin of DST in the US dates back to World War I. It was implemented as a way to conserve energy resources.
Conserving energy resources - now there’s a term I can relate to. My energy resources are zapped twice each year when I am forced to adapt to a new number on my clock.
It’s like jet lag without the vacation. In the fall, 3:00 pm becomes 2:00 pm and darkness comes just after lunch.
It’s a gloomy, doomy time, punctuated by early sunsets and early bedtimes.
What does that do to the psyche? It makes it tired, so very, very tired - by right around 7:00 pm.
Oh, sure, you wake up at 7:00 am and it feels like 8:00 (because it is) but I ask you – in all honesty – would you rather have sunlight early in the morning or later in the evening?
I’ll take evening any day of the week. The clock cycle initiated in the fall represents “regular” time. We are currently in regular time. Daylight Saving Time begins in the spring - this year on March 9 – when we move ahead one hour and 5:00 pm becomes 6:00 pm. Granted, this makes hitting the early bird dinner hour more of a challenge, but other than that, DST really doesn’t have much of a downside.
Well, unless you count getting up at 2:00 am to reset the clocks. Most of them do it on their own now anyway, so it’s really no longer a worry. Besides, if we made DST permanent there wouldn't be a need to reset the clocks. Think about how much time that would save everyone!
Here’s my final thought on the subject. Life is complicated. Why make it more so by messing with the time? Why complicate things that don’t need further complicating?
Pick a time - any time - and stick with it. That’s my two cents, or maybe better put, two minutes, whether they be prior to or after sunrise - you can take your pick.
Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright and author. Don’t miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Facebook.
