Off the Editor’s Spike by Darryl Wilkinson
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
Being American gives us the right to gripe. This week it’s time for our bi-annual grumbling on changing the clocks – you know, “spring forward” to save daylight. For most of us, that means losing an hour of sleep. But if you think it’s another modern “improvement” or another reminder of things changing due to some nameless bonehead’s decision somewhere, think again.
The ritual of turning back the clock began more than 200 years ago as a way to cut down on the cost of candles. It was Benjamin Franklin who, as minister to France, suggested in 1784 that an extra hour of daylight would save French shopkeepers 1 million francs per year.
It was not until 1918, however, that daylight-saving time was first implemented in the United States. Since then, it has been adopted by certain locales and dropped by others, modified during periods of war and hotly contested by many.
By now you surely know the arguments. Those who like it cite the need for increased daylight hours to allow more time for recreation, reduce energy demamnd, decrease crime and increase traffic safety. But for most of us raised on the farm, waking hours are set by the sun instead of the clock.
The concept of daylight-saving time remains controversial. Even with the passage of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, states were allowed to exempt themselves from daylight-saving time. By 1990, all but six states and American territories observed daylight savings. Americans living in the Eastern time zone in Indiana, for instance, refused to observe daylight savings despite what the rest of their state and nation decided.
It remains a choice…but unless you’re willing to walk into church an hour late Sunday morning, I suggest you remember to change the clock before going to bed Saturday night.