No, I’m not Jonah Ryan or any fictional character for that matter.
I do have something in common with Jonah Ryan though, I don’t like Daylight Saving Time. When I was a kid in school, I did like it that it didn’t get dark until nine PM, I got to stay out later to play. As an adult though, I see it as an unnecessary point of failure and stress on my life and anyone else who has similar thoughts on the subject.
DST was made for outdoor laborers, so they could work later into the evening, not for office and indoor dwellers with artificial light. I’ve read that it’s also because some people wanted to have more time after work during the summer for no labor activity and for the conservation of energy. DST was first brought to notoriety by Benjamin Franklin seemingly more as a joke to Parisians for saving candles that light the city at night. The U.S. began DST on March 31, 1918, but by the end of WWI, it was so unpopular that Congress repealed it over a Presidential Override of Woodrow Wilson’s veto the next year.
During WWII DST, was instituted again. This time it was done by FDR, year round from February of 1942 until September of 1945. From 1945 until 1966 there states and localities were free to use it if they wanted to. This seemed to cause some problems with Television and radio schedules and shipping. In 1974 Nixon signed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973.
That act of 1973 has been amended numerous times by Congress changing the start and end times and dates for it to take effect each year. Supposedly it saves energy and reduces crime in some areas of the country. That might be true, but it’s also true that if we pivoted to using only renewable energy and decriminalized narcotics, we wouldn’t need to worry about conserving energy and the number of crimes, committed for the purposes of obtaining money to purchase currently illegal and expensive narcotics, would probably drop so much that the DEA might have to close. Surely all of those for-profit prisons would close.
Twice, each year, I have to adjust my sleep schedule to meet a demand that, as far as I can tell, no one really cares about. Sure, it’s another news story that the press and media can spend a day or two discussing, but for it’s an annoyance like when a gnat flies up my nose. I don’t enjoy it.
So, here’s to all of us coming together and telling not only our Federal elected officials but also our state and local officials, to turn off the Daylight Saving Time switch permanently.
The Prophet