From the vault – 24 March 2012 (revised):
Daylight “savings” time is upon us once again. The folly continues.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed what was laughingly entitled the “Sunshine Protection Act.” If passed by the House and signed by the president of the United States, it will make DST permanent all year long. No one explained why sunshine needed to be protected or from what or how it is to be protected; our congresspersons had nothing better to do with their time, and so they dug up an old bone and dressed it up a bit.
There are two opposing camps in the fight to protect our sunshine: Those who want to make “standard” time permanent and those who want DST permanent. Both camps, however, agree that there are serious health effects attendant to switching the clocks back and forth twice a year. The major health concern is that the body’s Circadian system is thrown out of whack (yes, that’s a legitimate medical expression), leading to depression, sleep deprivation, and irrational behavior. Statistics show that accident rates increase significantly.
We’ve been down this road previously. In 1973, president Richard Nixon signed into law a change to year-long DST for an experimental two-year period. Most of America was pretty blasé about it until the negative effects came to the fore. DST places one extra hour of daylight at the end of the daytime period, allowing us to do whatever we want to do without having to turn on the lights and thereby saving energy. That was the rationale then, and it’s the rationale now. Isn’t that a good thing?
But, wait! You can’t add an hour to a 24-hour day. You have to subtract an hour from the beginning of the daylight period, thus creating an extra hour of darkness in the morning and forcing us to turn on the lights in order to see where we’re going. This fact was what doomed the experiment of permanent DST. Americans were having to go to work in the dark. Parents were alarmed over having their children walk to school in the dark (the major complaint). Farmers had to deal with animals who followed Nature’s “clock.” Permanent DST was repealed the following year, but a shorter version was kept in place and has been with us ever since.
Did we learn our history lesson? No-o-o-o.
“Time” was never a concern for our primitive ancestors. They observed the movements of the Sun and the Moon and the changing of the seasons and, by observing, knew when to hunt game and to gather wild foods. These activities filled their days, and they were content.
But, when Man the hunter-gatherer ceased his nomadic wanderings, settled down in fixed communities, and became Man the farmer/rancher, Time took on a greater meaning. Our ancestors then needed to know when to sow and when to reap, when to breed and when to market the fruits of their labor. For these purposes, they developed calendars and subdivided Time into smaller units. Calendars were useful for observing religious rituals, because failure to propitiate the gods in a proper fashion meant loss of crops and livestock.
As the centuries passed, Man became Man the mercantilist/manufacturer, and our ancestors subdivided Time into yet smaller and smaller units so that they could schedule business appointments, plan the next profitable venture, and sell their products in a more efficient manner. For these purposes, clocks were invented. Clocks regulated social events; failure to show up at an event “on time” made pariahs of many a wastrel.
Now, we humans keep a sharp eye on our calendars and our clocks in the perceived belief that not a single moment must be wasted in idleness. So much to do, and so little time to do it, don’t you know? Thus, Time has become our master, rather than our servant.
Do you recognize yourself, dear reader? If you are a slave to your calendars and your clocks, DST will not help you at all.
The fact of the matter is that “standard” time and DST are opposite sides of the same coin. They were both manufactured by someone long ago in order to serve a particular purpose. But Time is not carved in granite; it can be changed by another someone for another particular purpose. For instance (a shameless plug follows), in my Legacy of the Wayfarers novels, the day begins at the moment the Sun peeks over the horizon and ends at the moment before the Sun peeks over the horizon. All of my characters believe this is “standard” time. And why shouldn’t it be?
For the record, The Chas favors permanent standard time. Enough tinkering all ready!
Just a thought.