This past weekend we observed DayLight Savings time and turned our clocks back one hour. Next spring we will turn our clocks one hour forward. Most of us are not sure why we do this every year but it gives many people a chance to gripe about doing it. Ah, the American Way.
It has almost been a week since we have done it and my sleep schedule has been completely disrupted. I am waking an hour earlier than I was a week ago and I’m ready for bed right after dinner. Ok, I confess, I have always been ready to go to bed after dinner, also after lunch and to think about it, after breakfast. Scratch that argument.
The truth is, I couldn’t care less about Daylight Savings Time, but it makes a difference for some people on this planet. Many of us live between the tropics and the north and south poles, it does make a big difference. Because of our location on the planet we will see a bigger difference in the length of the days between summer and winter than residents of polar regions and the equator. Allegedly, one of the reasons we use Daylight Savings Time is because at one time our country was a agrarian society (found my thesaurus, and no, that is not some kind of dinosaur) and the extra daylight in the morning during the winter made it easier for farmers to take care of their early morning chores, like wrapping their cold hands around a cow’s tits and milking them. I think the cows would rather have had these farmers stay in bed and get their hands warmer. This leads to an important question, is this where ice cream comes from? Tell me you haven’t thought the same thing.
I’ve decided to find out why we do it and what are the benefits. After extensive 10 minute search on Wikipedia, I discovered that there is no definitive reason for the use of Daylight Savings time on our globe. Besides that, I also learned that most of the people on this planet do not change their clocks twice a year.
The first American to propose the use of Daylight Savings Time was one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin…and it was a joke. In a satirical letter to the editor of The Journal of Paris, he suggested the idea to save on candle wax in the winter. You mean the reason I’m changing clocks at 2:00 a.m. in the morning twice a year is because Ben Franklin was pulling someone’s leg? What else was he joking about? Was the Declaration of Independence a practical joke? (Some folks in this country think so.) He did once suggest that our national bird should be a turkey instead of a bald eagle. Now that’s funny.
Not all states observe Daylight Savings Time. Hawaii and Arizona have declined to join the rest of the country in their bi-annual ballet in the middle of the night. On top of that, not all counties in Indiana participate and it can really cause confusion for those traveling through the state at certain times of year. Just Indiana being Indiana.
From what I understand, the State of California has passed a ballot initiative that would allow our legislature to make Daylight Savings Time permanent. It hasn’t happened yet, probably because they may need the Federal Government to pass a similar bill first. Knowing how the Congress works in Washington D.C., our planet may crash into the sun first, eliminating the need for the bill.
Since I can not find a good reason for continuing Daylight Savings Time, like any alleged journalist, who is not attached to a responsible news outlet, I will make one up. I blame “Big Battery.” Yes, the corporations behind the drumming bunny on meth and the battery with the copper top, have perpetuated this annual tradition to promote more sales of their products. Hang in there and I will explain.
Smoke detectors were first invented in the late 1890s but were not practical for homes until the 1960s. They are now required in homes throughout our country and thank goodness they were. Do you know how many people have been saved from the smell of burnt bacon due to the smoke detector being set off in houses while cooking breakfast…oh, yea…they also save lives and warn people in case of a house fire. Smoke detectors eventually became battery powered. What does this have to do with Daylight Savings Time? What is the one thing you hear when the media reminds you to change your clocks twice a year, they also tell you to change your Smoke Detectors’ batteries at the same time. I would imagine, and this is a lot of imagination, that the sale of batteries skyrocket twice a year. Big Battery will be devastated if they do not get that free advertising they get twice a year. Have you ever tried to change your smoke detector battery at 2:00 in the morning? What a pain. My wife just suggested I could do it before I go to bed. Really? I thought it was a law. The shock I get by putting the 9 volt battery to my tongue, to check if it still has any juice, wakes me up enough to finish the job.
From what I can see, we will be dealing with Daylight Savings Time for the foreseeable future and have to live with it. You have to agree that it is much easier to change the clocks today than it was years ago. Since I now have a cell phone with my watch connected to it and they control most of my life, the time changes automatically. All I have to do is just change the stove, microwave and my wife’s car. It will be even easier once Apple figures out how to get my phone to change those smoke detector batteries for me in the middle of the night.
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