Daylight Savings, Only Better

Daylight savings time began this week, there are very few times of the year I like less than the day it starts. I am not sure why it bugs me so much, but I dread the idea of going to bed knowing that you will lose an hour of sleep. I know, I could go to sleep an hour earlier, but then I would miss the 10:00 news and the all important weather forecast.

I also need one of the people who thought it was a good idea not only to initially start daylight savings time, but also to move it up a month, to come to my farm. They need to explain to my animals that the clock has, in fact, changed and even though it seems like 9:00 it is time for the 10:00 nightly check. I would also like to explain to them that because they wanted to give everyone an extra hour of daylight after work, they have effectively made it so I have to wait another hour to check my cows in the morning.

I know the idea behind moving the time change up a month is that it would save money by allowing people to be outside another hour. I am a bit skeptical about whether it serves its intended purpose or not, but it made me think. I have an idea that will help all of us. The brilliance is its simplicity.

I have trouble getting everything done during the day that I need to get done. It seems I am always behind schedule. I also suffer from not getting enough sleep at night. We have heard from many experts that many of our health problems are the result of not getting eight hours of sleep each night. The bottom line is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

Oh sure, we could try to cram a little less into our lives each day. We could set priorities and, heaven forbid, make our kids set priorities. I suppose we could learn how to say no to some of the people and things pulling for more of our time. But we feel guilty about turning some of them down, others we just enjoy too much to let go and there are those that we do because we always have. The bottom line is that we cram our schedules too full for the current 24 hour day.

In the spirit of daylight savings time I propose that we had two more hours to each day. I thought about adding one more but that creates too many problems for clock makers. Think about it 13 o’clock would be the perfect solution to our time dilemma. We would have that extra hour each day to squeeze a couple more appointments in, maybe a couple more activities for our kids.

The real beauty of my time solution would be the extra hour of sleep we would all get each night. We all enjoy our extra hour of sleep each fall, how great would it be to get that extra hour each night. The health benefits would be far reaching and we would all be much better rested and less grouchy. Not only would we be healthier but the world would be a much nicer place. We would also generate economic activity, all of the clocks in the world would need replaced or retro-fitted for 13:00. It would be a really boom for the clock industry.

Of course, my plan is not without its problems that need to be thought through. Things like when would we have lunch and would noon still be 12:00 pm and midnight 12:00 am? What time would the evening news come on? There would also be the messy issue of when the sun would come up and set. Just minor details similar to those faced with moving the time changes a few years back

Join with me to lobby for a 26 hour day. We could call ourselves 13o’clockers. Call your Senators and Representatives right away. Let’s make this a bi-partisan effort; it might even break up the grid-lock in D.C. It’s a cause everyone can get behind. Until then, we will just all have to muddle along with our old-fashioned 24 hour day and modern hectic schedules and only dream of two more hours each day.