Opinion
Don’s Drafts
Don Groves
In like a lion out like a lamb.
I still remember coloring lions and lambs in elementary school each March as we students grew antsy because of the approaching spring.
Today I still get antsy about spring. I find myself walking around the yard looking for signs of tulips, hyacinths and daffodils while trying to remember what kind of spring bulbs I put out where last fall. Already I have two kinds of tomatoes and three kinds of peppers sprouting from seed in the basement.
Spring is a month filled with celebration in my family too. We have more than a half dozen birthdays this month, which mean lots of cake and lots of gifts.
I welcome spring and enjoy it all except for one thing — daylight saving time.
Daylight saving time has to be the most nonsensical thing ever created. Just as my body adjusts to the sun’s natural rising and setting idiots throughout the state and nation tell us to “spring forward” by moving the hands of an unnatural device.
Disrupting bed time isn’t healthy. In fact the Monday after the time change has been called “one of the most dangerous days of the year.” Medical researchers say heart attacks, traffic accidents and workplace accidents increase by as much as 8 percent following the change to daylight saving time.
Daylight saving time not only disrupts one’s circadian rhythm, it’s a pain to reset all the watches and clocks at our house, especially the clocks in the vehicles. It usually takes me 15 minutes of trying to remember which combination of buttons to push before I finally resort the vehicles’ owner’s manuals.
The idea that daylight saving time saves energy is ludicrous. With more daylight in the evening we’re supposed to be using less electricity because we don’t need as much artificial lighting but that doesn’t mean we’re still not flipping on light switches. We’re just turning on lights every morning when we would much rather still be in bed.
And don’t think for a minute we’re getting an “extra hour” of daylight. Even with the time change there are still only 24 hours in a day. It’s like the quote attributed to the old American Indian: “Only the government would believe you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it on the bottom and have a longer blanket.”
No, I have no use for daylight saving time and would like to see its end. I can see only two benefits of daylight saving time. One, it’s a reminder for people everywhere to change the batteries in the smoke alarms and, two, the time change precedes National Napping Day, a day that encourages people to take a nap to make up for the time lost the day before.
I welcome spring. I do so every year but I’m not fond of springing forward.
Editor Don Groves can be contacted a This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
