Two-bit Guru | Setting Clocks Back |

“You might be able to save your pennies in a coffee can, but there ain’t no dang way you’re going to save daylight, no where, no place, no time, no how.” ~Two-bit guru~

As a child I was told that daylight saving time was invented so that the farmers could work longer into the evening, exactly one hour longer, because it would be light longer. No one mentioned that the farmers would likely get up an hour later. I am embarrassed to say that I questioned that “wisdom” considerably later than any thinking child should have.

Does anyone suppose that farmers worked one hour a day less before Somebody concocted the daylight saving time idea? Nope. The farmers just adjusted their waking hours to coincide with the longer days of summer, and the shorter days of winter, working with the natural cycle of the earth.

My opinion is that much of the population accepts the idea of saving daylight the same way they accept the idea of Buy Now, Pay Later. I can’t help but wonder if the folks who think that way are figuring that if they die before the bill comes due they will be ahead of the game, except for the inconvenience of being dead.

For a couple of years I refused to change the clocks to daylight saving time and ran on standard, what I called God’s time. In retrospect, I realize that there is no such thing as God’s time because infinite beings probably don’t need to bother themselves with time in the first place. My act of non-compliance was certainly in defiance of authority trying to tell me what to do. In order to remain in sync with the rest of the population, during daylight saving time it was necessary to always add one hour onto whatever time my clocks read. Yes, I did forget to do that now and then and missed an appointment or two because of it.

This fall, I came up with another idea, to leave my clocks on daylight saving time while everyone else goes to standard. In that way, whenever I look at my clock I will think it’s already noon when it’s “really” (sez who?) only 11 a.m. If I artificially tell myself I’m behind, then imagine my relief when a moment later I realize that I have a whole extra hour. No more missed appointments!

It might sound like a goofy idea, but is it any goofier than arbitrarily setting clocks back an hour in the fall and setting them ahead an hour in the spring for no sensible reason at all?