Coming Unsprung

It's time for the twice-annual whine: "I can't handle this spring-forward/fall-back thing. Why can't they leave the clock alone?"

First of all, I can sympathize that time changes are difficult to master. I remember, as a child, how it took days before my internal systems would adjust. Nowadays? Well, after about thirty-five years of accepting the time on the clock, I'm pretty much immune. I get up when I get up, and whatever is the time on the clock, okay by me. Note: it's always early (before six).

What people don't seem to understand, or perhaps appreciate, are the benefits of daylight savings time. Ask yourself: would you rather have a summer where the rising sun was in your eyes at four in the morning; where the sun set, and the evening was over, at eight o'clock?

Daylight savings time was designed to take advantage of the shift in sunrise over the summer months; and in the summer, people rising at six in the morning often lamented the fact that the sun had been up a couple hours before them; why not shift an hour, and enjoy an extra hour of sun in the evening?

Then there are the economic arguments; by shifting people's hours to something a bit more in line with the sun, less lighting is used in a day; that all adds up.

I suppose, these days, people just don't really notice what's going on outside, anyway; dark or light, rain or shine or snow; it just doesn't matter to them. Getting dark? Just flick on the lights and get back to binge-watching Lucifer; and maybe throw on a sweater for the walk out to the garage.

Well, you may not like making the adjustment, but I'll bet you anything that you'll be less happy that it'll cost you, and considerably.

It'll cost you for an extra hour of lighting, every single evening from March to November; for extending your activities deeper into the 'evening.' Your schedule, if you're an outdoorist, will also grow more cramped, as you frantically try to pack an evening's worth of activities into the couple hours between dinner and sunset.

Time to stop and really think about what you're ready to give up, people!