I need to get in touch with whichever government agency is in charge of fiddling with and manipulating the time changes that are rather arbitrarily forced upon our nation, and, ultimately......us.
I really do not mean to run this topic into the ground, because I know there are many of you, out there in Bloggerville, USofA, that like the time changes and cannot wait for them to occur. But there are infinitesimally more of you that find these time changes annoying and disruptive.
For moi, the spring change is probably the least disruptive to my body rhythm because my body really gets to lay down one hour earlier (in my head) than the clock face reads. It takes my mind and my body about ten days to become synchronized. Where my objection comes is that when the spring change occurs, we humans have just survived November, December, January, February and the depressing darkness that accompanies these months. We've weathered (pun intended) the shrinking daylight hours and the feeling that we are all bears just entering our caves for the cold-weather hibernation period. Toward the end of February we can see the days lengthening and our hope begins to spring eternal that, indeed, spring may actually commence. Daylight arrives earlier and earlier which makes it easier and easier to get up in the morning. In this part of the country, we can even retrieve our newspapers well before 6 a.m. in the daylight.
After a Midwest winter, we've earned the luxury of early daylight hours. But what the government giveth, the government taketh away and so returneth Daylight Savings Time. We are subjected to lingering darkness, the diminution of early morning light that plunges our psyches into a temporary funk as we must wait, once again, for the sun to agree with the government's decree.
I am willing to compromise and would like to propose to our citizen-friendly government that something called "Daylight Enhancement Time" is enacted. This would take that hour (This could do be done in reverse in the fall.) and split it - thirty minutes in the morning and thirty minutes at the end of the day. All clocks would simply be set thirty minutes ahead in the spring and thirty minutes back in the fall. The resulting change would be less insulting to our minds and bodies and much less disruptive to our sleep patterns. Who really cares if our clocks get set forward to 12:30 a.m. instead of 12:00 a.m.?
Honk once if you agree with my proposal and twice if you disagree. If it is foggy, honk once, followed by two short whistle blasts for agreement or honk twice, followed by two short whistle blasts for disagreement. If it is snowing or icy, stay home and off the road, which shouldn't be too hard to do because it is dark and no one wants to get out of bed.
Ancora imparo
