A definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. Now I have another one for you, and it just happened again last weekend.
There are many theories as to why daylight saving time was invented, and Dear Reader, I happen to know the real reason. But you’ll just have to wait until the end of this story. Besides if I tell you now, this would be my shortest column in over twenty-four years.
The energy crisis
The entire United States established the Standard Time Act in 1918. The reason? Congress believed that the move would help with the energy crisis occurring at the time. Years later, a study showed the fallacy in the law. There was indeed savings in the light bills, but folks had to cool their houses during the hottest time of the day – far exceeding any savings. The study was done 90 years later in 2008, yet DST is still in effect.
Farmers
While growing up I heard many reasons for the change of time twice a year, and farmers were always near the top of the list. They worked from sunup to sundown and wanted an extra hour in the evening to pick more of their crops. This is incorrect.
Farmers didn’t want the time change because it took away from their morning milking. They were able to stop it after WWI, and it didn’t return until WWII.
School bus stops
Moms up and down Flamingo Street believed that DST was made just for them. With the extra sunlight in the morning, they could keep watch on their kids at the end of the driveway waiting on the school bus to arrive.
How do I know this to be true? Our mom said many times, “Thank goodness you kids don’t have to stand out in the dark waiting on the bus anymore.” In actuality, children standing in the dark had nothing to do with the law.
String theory
So, who was the first person in our country with the idea of turning our clocks back an hour in the fall and turning them ahead one hour in the spring? Well, only a politician would believe by cutting a little off one end of a string and adding it to the other end would result in a longer string.
And if you’re talking about the history of our country, and who invented what, chances are you’ll find that person was Benjamin Franklin.
The joke’s on us
Benjamin Franklin visited France back in 1784 and took notice of how the Parisians lived life. They started their workday with the rising sun and stopped working when it set. He wrote a satirical letter making fun of their way of living and saying that he thought the practice was to save money on candles and lamp oil.
I will leave you with the perfect solution to the DST debate, and we don’t have to wait for Congress to pass any law: get rid of it all together.
And for those of you who want to keep it and utilize that extra hour of daylight, The solution is simple and won’t bother any of the rest of us. Just get up an hour earlier and start your day.
As for me and The Wife, we’re gonna stay in bed. Way back in 1784, good old Ben thought daylight saving time was a joke. I think he would be happy to know many folks nowadays think the exact same way.
[Rick Ryckeley has been writing stories weekly in The Citizen since 2001.]
