We Did it Again

Once again, just to add a bit more stress to our lives, we have changed our clocks. Back in the happy day before every gadget on earth became electronic, this was a simple matter. You merely pulled out the stem and ran the clock or watch an hour ahead in the spring, an hour back in the fall. Purists warned that it was best for the clock if we ran the hands forward until they had made a complete circuit. I have no way to verify this, but I'll bet most of us cheated and did it the easier and faster way.
In the electronic age it's not that simple. Every clock has its own way of being set, so from one time change to the next it is impossible to remember them all. What works on the first clock after considerable fooling around does not work on the second or all the others in line. So a person has two choices: keep fiddling with each clock or get out the directions. No right-thinking person would go to the latter extreme.
Why we do this to ourselves is beyond me. I've heard all the pro and con arguments, of course. Golfers have more time to make fools of themselves on the course with Daylight Saving Time. Yes, but kids have to start out for school in the dark. On and on it goes with dozens of convictions put forth.
During my many years in Indiana we did not have this problem. Back then the Hoosier State stayed on standard time year around. Except for the counties in the southeast and northwest, but nobody cared about them. This was great unless you decided to take a trip, mail a package or make a long-distance phone call. Then it required thought. Were we on the same time as Ohio, or an hour behind? The same with Illinois. It changed every six months.
The reason Indiana resisted DST for so long was that it would be upsetting to the cows. I had trouble believing that as it didn't seem to bother cows anywhere else. While not claiming to be an expert on bovines, I seriously doubt that a cow ever walked up to a farmhouse to peer in the window and check the time on the kitchen clock. Cows have their own way of figuring time. When being milked is called for, all that concerns them is that someone shows up to do it.
So I contend it's time to end this nonsense. Being on standard time has been cut to a mere four months. I'm sure life would go on if DST were observed during those months or if we had standard time for all twelve.
I have failed to mention British Double Summer Time. That involved setting clocks two hours ahead. It also meant it never seemed to get dark in the evening or light in the morning. Few people are aware, or even give a damn, that in Europe, World War II was fought on British Double Summer Time. This led to the Germans accusing both the British and Americans, particularly the Americans, of being lazy and too concerned about physical comfort and luxurious living as they did not want to commence attacking before 9 o'clock in the morning. I've never understood why the Germans were so anxious to get off to an early start. I'm also convinced they failed to realize that while the clock might read oh-nine-hundred hours our biological clocks told us it was 7 o'clock in the morning. Surely that should have been early enough to get serious about killing each other.
So you can see why this business of changing clocks is so upsetting to me. I'm cranky, too, because my biological clock got me up an hour early this morning. Clocks can say whatever they want, but the human body doesn't necessarily agree.

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