Semiannual Disgruntlement
There are two times in every year that I dread—those weekends when we change our clocks. It would be more accurate to say that I detest Daylight Savings Time and dread the two weekends when it begins and when it ends. For the past fifteen-ish years, I have not had to get to an outside job on time nor get kids to school (my office is here at home, and my youngest child homeschooled) so you would not think the time change would be a problem for me, but it is. If it disrupts my life, I know it disrupts life for those on an external schedule.
Years and years ago I read a book that still lurks in the back of my mind to this day, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. I see it is classified as a self-help book, which seems like an insult, somehow. This book is far too powerful to be in the self-help category. Anyway, one of the ideas in the book is determining your own direction, mood, outlook, etc. and not letting external circumstances dictate those things. I think this may have been in the “Be Proactive” section. I remember reading that and realizing I had spent my whole life reacting to things and people around me instead of getting out in front and taking that bull by the horns. Since then, I have tried to stay aware and in control of outside influences, yet here I am complaining about the time change.
Once a mother, always a mother, in terms of worrying about children. As DST begins and ends, sunrise is knocking on the door of 8:00 a.m. here in Central Texas—the time when most schools start. That means there are kids being picked up by the school bus in the pitch dark and even walking to school in the dim pre-dawn light. I would say schools should simply switch their start time to 9:00 for the duration of DST, but why not just end DST? Why have this mass disruption twice a year? There is plenty of evidence to show that fatal traffic accidents, heart attacks, and strokes all increase significantly following the time changes. DST was instituted because it was suppose to lower energy usage, but in recent years it has caused energy usage to go higher as people use the extra afternoon daylight to drive around. In reading up on DST, I found the real reason why we do all of this—people spend more money during DST. The extended daylight time after work and school makes people more likely to go to stores and spend money. Also people spend more time at the golf course during DST. Both are stellar reasons to disrupt life for everyone and put lives in danger, right? I am being facetious, of course.
Just to clarify—the sun stays on the schedule God put it on way back when—it shows up for longer periods of time in the summer, and shorter periods of time in the winter. Nothing we humans do can or will change that. All we do is shift our clocks back and forth to make it appear we are making more or fewer daylight hours, but it is strictly an illusion, we cannot change the number of daylight hours we have on a given day. God set up a good system, but we humans, of course, have made a mess of it. SpringCreekArtsGuild@gmail.com