IWell, it’s that time again! And I don’t mean income tax time either.  What I dread is the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. Just who saves daylight?  I don’t.  Do you?  Do you know anyone who does?

If you saved it where would you keep it?  And what to what  use could you possibly put it?

Can time be changed, altered, transformed, modified or otherwise monkeyed-around with?  Certainly not.  Any reasonable person knows that time remains absolutely unalterable.  All that changes are our clocks.  We are out of synch with the entire universe – and for what?

There is no truth in the excuse that it helps the nation’s farmers because they work from dawn to dusk and never look at a clock.  All the change of time does is force children to go to bed in broad daylight and get up in total darkness.

Daylight Savings Time was first suggested by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 and that’s to be expected since he wanted to save everything including pennies.  “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

The official reason given by the government for saving daylight was to reduce evening use of energy – to power things like television sets and light bulbs.  That reason is completely flawed because any power that might have been save the night before is used up and more besides the next morning.  Who could fix breakfast and get dressed in the dark?

During war times, 1914-1918 and 1942-1945, the same ridiculous reason was given: it saved energy.  I have never understood why anyone could think that must moving the clock ahead saved time.  Logically we don’t save anything.  We lose an hour.  Of course, we get it back in the fall, but by that time we are all sleepy and worn out so no one cares. And, we still didn’t save one single minute.

My mother, who was always right, said in 1942, that as far as she was concerned anything that President Roosevelt wanted had to be good for America and in her opinion it was tantamount to treason for anyone to disagree with him. Mama absolutely adored Roosevelt and Daddy despised him. 

Mama always became furious by any comment remotely critical of Roosevelt, so I dropped the subject.  But I continued to think about it.

Once we visited Daddy in his office when he was stationed at Algiers Naval Base and I was shocked to see a large picture of President Roosevelt on his wall behind his desk.
 “Why, Daddy,” I said, “I can’t believe you have a picture of Roosevelt in your office.”

“I don’t.  I have a picture of the President of the United States and my Commander In Chief.”  I thought about that for a minute and we both laughed.  “Also you will note it is on the wall in back of me so I don’t have to look at him.”

Mama was outraged and began to say how wonderful Roosevelt was.  Daddy listened quietly and then said, “Let’s go to lunch. Gladys, you will be happy to know there is an even larger picture of the President in the Officer’s Club.”
 
Over the years another excuse for Daylight Savings Time is that a longer period of daylight benefits people who work.  Do you rush home to enjoy the daylight?  If you do not work, do you spend more time enjoying the daylight?  Do you know anyone who does?  Of course not, because by that time it’s too hot to rush around anywhere doing anything.

Who’s responsible for forcing people like robots to more their clocks ahead at midnight for no good reason?  Whose hairbrained idea was it to interfere with the celestial harmony of time?  Since so many people have asked how we got into this mess, I as a public service, did some research and confirmed what I suspected all along:  Politicians are responsible for the whole thing.

Congress and various presidents have a lot to answer for by signing bills and changing time around and then attempting to justify it by maintaining that it is, after all, for our own good.  It makes me nervous to be told by a politician that anything is for my own good.  It always turns out to be for their own good.

And another thing, for years I have complained that the change of time gives me a headache for weeks. My comments have been met with scorn and derision even from my loved ones and inconsiderate friends.  But, I have been completely vindicated by a report issue recently on how daylight savings time adversely affects some people. Some superior people.

It has been proved by renowned scientists that some people suffer from a change in time if they have a superior Circadian rhythm.  I will extrapolate on that statement.

Circadian rhythm refers to an internal clock that controls many biological functions including sleep. 

Problems arise when our bodies undergo changes that alter sleep patterns for which the Circadian rhythm is not prepared.  The effect of time change and jet lag are substantially the same.

Just as some people suffer the effects of jet lag more than others, those of us with superior Circadian rhythms are grievously affected by the change of time.

Consider this:  If we are all tired and suffer from sleep deprivation, then we are in a perfect mental condition to insure that almost anything could be passed by us and we’d neither know nor care.  Like a national Health Program.

Maybe it’s not just coincidence that Daylight Savings Time occurs on March 15 this year.  After all, this is the week that Obama’s Health Plan will be voted on by Congress.  Considering how politicians are trying to pass all kind of things by Americans these days, that alone should be reason enough to stop saving daylight.