Daylight Savings Time

Today is the vernal equinox; day and night are almost exactly equal. Here in the northern hemisphere, it’s the first day of spring. The good news is that days will get longer and warmer. (Which may be true where I live in western Massachusetts, but not where I am temporarily, in Florida, and it’s already in the high 80’s and muggy.)

I have just about gotten over being cranky about one of the rites of spring, the switch to Daylight Savings time. It usually takes about two weeks for me to top saying “but it’s really only…” or to demand the restoration of my lost hour of sleep. And while I admit to enjoying the additional light at the end of the day, I hate trying to convince myself that I can be productive when it’s still dark in the morning.

And then, lo and behold, the Senate, which has been unable to agree on anything for years, decides to make Daylight Savings time permanent. Yes, we absolutely need one system throughout the year. But do we really want schoolchildren standing on street corners in the dark? Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that this bitterly divided group has only roused itself from its dysfunctional torpor to get something spectacularly wrong.

Of course, if they consulted the scientists and medical professionals who all believe that year-round standard time would be more beneficial, some Senators might feel obligated to retreat to their partisan ignorance and take the opposite view.   And then the Senate would be plunged back into divisiveness and inaction. I guess I’m still crankier than I thought, because for a fleeting moment I thought we’d be better off.