One Writer’s View On Daylight Savings

It isn’t often that I go off on a rant – well at least this kind of rant. Mostly as my followers know I write about writing and reading and associated things in that area.  But this does apply to writers and workers. It’s hard to create, work, whatever when your brain is fuzzy from screwed up sleep cycles.

So, today I can’t help it. I don’t know about you but I, personally, am so sick of Daylight Savings Time I could hurl invectives at the nearest politician, local or national.

Really, for something that was begun in the early 1900’s (I hear so workers could work all day, then do some gardening in the evening for the war effort – correct me if I’m wrong on that), aren’t we done with it yet? 

It’s simply idiotic, jerking us back and forth twice a year between one time an another.  And now with it beginning even earlier in the year, courtesy of the late Bush administration, we barely begin to crawl out of the deep morning darkness of winter when we’re thrown back into it again. The average worker who gets up at 6 a.m. to go to work now gets up and goes to work in the pitch black. Kids who were seeing daylight for more safety at bus stops are now in the dark again (I understand there are more school bus crashes as well when daylight savings sets in though I have no statistic to back that one up). Statistically more heart attacks occur the week after daylight savings. Sleep patterns are wrecked (I fall into this category) for weeks after.  There are all sorts of negative effects of daylight savings.  Don’t believe me? Just Google “detrimental effects of daylight savings” or “negative effects of daylight savings” and watch the millions of pages pop up (no kidding, over 2,300,000 last time I googled – many of them relating to health problems it causes and talking about countries that have sensibly stopped the practice).

All this so it’s lighter a little longer in the evening – big whoop. 

Look, there are so many hours in the day.  There are so many hours of sunlight and darkness, determined by what time of the year it is. That’s it. Pick a time and stay with it. Enough of this ongoing idiocy.

And many people agree with me.  In fact I can’t talk to someone who doesn’t ‘hate’ daylight savings time. Trouble is everyone just stumbles through it like the Zombie Apocalypse and no one complains – except to each other.  And the ones who don’t actually hate it are generally pretty neutral. It’s a really rare bird who loves it.

So why is it still here? Is it yet another case of ‘follow the money’? I know I for one pay higher utility bills this time of year courtesy of this obnoxious foolishness. It’s dark when we get up, lights go on. It’s cold because it’s dark. Heat goes on.  Are there other monetary reasons I can’t quickly come up with?  If one occurs to you,  add it to the comments here.

I’ve written to local politicians trying to lobby for it being eliminated in our state (like Arizona sensibly has done a long while back) and I’ve written on the national scale to Congressmen and Senators. None seem to want to do anything or even really think or talk about it.  I guess they’re too busy well, screwing up the finances of the country or worrying about things like declaring a national cookie.

Folks, if you really don’t like Daylight Savings time, take a minute to email your local representative at state level AND your Congressmen and Senators. Heck drop the Pres. A line while you’re at it.  Because unless people start complaining to someone besides each other, nothing’s going to change – except perhaps for the worse as this latest jerk into the abyss originally by the Bush administration and now sticking to this Obama administration – proves.

Really, it needs to end. Stop it already.

End of rant.