Light dancing with the dark
Time is elastic, some say. Can it snap back just in one day?(Chureemfuo/Commons.wikimedia.org)
Wary since childhood. (Had a big brother…enough said)
Anytime someone starts telling you what to do –
“It’s better this way.” “For your own good.” “You’ll like this!”
Yeah, suspicious by experience.
On the surface, Daylight Saving Time seems benign –
Who doesn’t like more time to play after dinner?
Only, after reading this poem, it occurred to me something is overlooked.
Daylight Saving Time ( by Phyllis McGiney)
In Spring when maple buds are red,
We turn the clocks an hour ahead
Which means each April that arrives
We lose an hour
Out of our lives.
Who cares? When Autumn birds in flocks
Fly southward, back we turn the Clocks
And so regain a lovely thing –
That missing hour
We lost last Spring.
There.
The last two lines of the first stanza
And those arrogance of the first two words of the last verse.
Even one hour lost could be terribly important to certain people.
Who, you ask?
What about those who worry, perhaps with good reason, “What if I’m not around in Autumn!”
Taken without permission with no hope of getting it back in time.
Not exactly “lost”. Stolen.
Sounds criminal.
I wonder if there will be a class action lawsuit.
Stranger things happening, right?
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
Playing out – but not always in a timely fashion. (USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)
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Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge 
What is the first one was in November? Meaning, we first gained an hour, and then went back to even?
Then, we’re always either ahead one hour or even, and never in shortfall . . . which means we should aim to die between November and April and end life with a positive balance.
Of course, that’s only true for them born between November and April.
Come to think of it, them born between April and November also are advantaged because, from their perception, they gain an hour in the Fall and then lose it in the Spring. From their point of view, they are also either ahead or even.
. . . it’s all so confusing and subjective . . . we should all move to states who don’t observe it, and that operate in DCT (Daylight Constant Time).
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Leave it to you to end up with a positive confusion. What a great comment. Timely wise.
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Thanks (not!) to Daylight Savings Time, we all lose our connection with the slow and steady dance of the universe. As a child I loved the darkening days of autumn, the almost-naughty feeling of being outside playing while it was getting dark, looking forward to going in to supper in a well-lit house…and then the delicious slipping into the light in Spring, each day more day… All living creatures except “civilized” humans know this celestial rhythm…Do away with DST, I say; Give us back our Earthling birthright!
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AH, yes, lovely memories of a natural childhood.
Reminds me of the way “experts” said we were no longer an agricultural society, so it was time to alter the school’s time/day schedules and school calendars (Kids not needed for farm chores/harvest). Once that was accomplished, the concept spread to offices, retail, sporting events….
Does that slip away from bio rhythms/nature’s celestial rhythms parallel the rise of anxiety and violence in the current “civilized” world?
Humans always think they can reorganize better…probably a though due to sleep deprivation.
Thanks for turning on a light comment
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I used to fuss about the time changes, both autumn and spring. Now? I ask my favorite life question: is this a problem, or a fact of life? Until the legislators, state or national, put an end to this silliness, it’s a fact of life. Now, on to the next thing.
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One of those “accept the things you cannot change”…
Actually the lucky the few are oblivious to the rigid artificial measurement of time as agreed upon by some humans somewhere. Sun rises, sun sets, and high noon – all about time needed for many.
But I am easily amused by odd things that show up.
Thanks for gliding a comment across the universe
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I hate it. I particularly hate it being dark at 3:30 or 4 pm. But please just pick one system and stay with it.
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Whiplash, indeed. (I do hate it when little kids and their elementary school age siblings are hauled out in the dark to wait for buses…kids are zombies until the sun comes up…can’t be optimum learning going on.)
What I found weird today is the recent study that there are 20% fewer heart attacks the first 2 days after “falling back” after DST ends in the fall…(25% more heart attacks in the Spring Ahead period of 2 days…sleep deprivation is real)
Enjoy the luxury of the recovering of time. Thanks for a quiet-the-alarm clock comment
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As usual, I’m the only one who likes it. Love the long spring-summer evenings with light until damn near close to 9 p.m. instead of at 5 a.m. Winter is dark anyway so I never feel I’ve lost anything.
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It sounds like you just go with the light flow – much more natural. Summer should encourage lingering and winter cozying up. Did a lot of people get used to hours that seem natural with working from home during COVID? Hmmm. No wonder people don’t want to go back to office as it means rolling out of bed as ordered by a shrieking alarm clock then having to get on the road in the dark – all to accommodate a rigid time schedule? Cranky.
Yep, good idea to sit on the porch/grab a chair by the fire and ponder such.
Thanks for winding up a timely comment
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Thank goodness Costa Rica does not have this nonsense, chopping up the natural progress of the seasons to suit work patterns.
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Sun comes up – and it goes down. Measuring units of the space in between those periods …human arrogance? Leaves little time for star gazing..which may be the basic problem of modern “civilization”.
Thanks for a real wake up comment!
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Most of Arizona doesn’t ever change, although the Navajo Nation does. All we have to do is remember that now times are different for when we call friends and relatives in all the time zones and when I visit California, I gain an hour going there but lose an hour coming back, which is rather annoying. 🙂
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Time zones and DST – a bothersome combo to deal with – but Arizona sounds pretty like a land or normal-ness. Thanks for such a shining comment. Enjoy the weekend
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