Considering that the notion of time is a wholly man-made and somewhat nebulous creation, some Washington lawmakers might be onto something.
Rep. Elizabeth Scott, R-Monroe, has a proposal (House Bill 1479) that would eliminate daylight saving time in the state. You know, that thing that has us springing forward and falling back, then spending a day or two adjusting our internal clocks. “The idea was brought to me by some constituents who asked why are we still doing this, it’s so annoying,” Scott said.
Why, indeed? Why do people in Washington, and most of the country for that matter, change their clocks twice a year — ahead one hour in the spring and back one hour in the fall? Well, the idea apparently was the brainchild of New Zealander George Vernon Hudson, who was an entomologist and astronomer — two professions we would have guessed were mutually exclusive. Hudson came up with a plan to extend daylight hours in the summer to help facilitate after-work activities. The United States adopted daylight saving during World War I, apparently in an effort to conserve energy by reducing the use of artificial lighting. The idea was then scuttled until World War II, when it again was adopted nationally.
Now, the need for adjusting clocks in an effort to conserve energy would be unnecessary if we all would heed the wisdom of noted philosopher Benjamin Franklin, who said, “Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Or even the wisdom of noted philosopher Mick Jagger, who sang, “Time Is On My Side,” “Time Waits For No One,” “The Last Time” and “Out of Time” — obviously qualifying as an expert on the subject. But, alas, we find ourselves flipping the clocks back and forth and being an hour late for church one Sunday a year.