Don’t Forget to Set Your Clock Back Tonight!
Saturday, October 31st, 2009Don’t forget to set your clock back tonight! It’s Daylight Saving Time, and you know what that means…an extra hour of sleep! Yeah!!! Of course that all depends on whether one goes to bed at the usual time or not! Next March, the procedure will be reversed as we return our clocks to their starting positions. In the spring, we actually lose an hour of sleep, a much more difficult transition to adjust to.
Perhaps you’re like me and have always thought that this “ritual” we perform with our clocks each fall and spring is called “Daylight Savings Time” with an “s”. I’m 60 years old, and I never knew until today that the accurate term is “Daylight Saving Time.” I guess that proves you’re never to old to learn something new.
Who thought of Daylight Saving Time anyway? Was it just a ploy to finagle more time for leisure at the end of those long, cold days of winter? Or an effort to keep children from having to walk to school in the dark?
No, it was originally established during World War I to enable the war production crews to conserve energy by performing most of their work during the daylight hours. Following the war, each state was allowed to choose whether or not to continue the practice.
However, during World War II, every state was required again to reinstate the time change. Finally, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 standardized the use of Daylight Saving Time.
In 2007, the Energy Policy Act added four more weeks of Daylight Saving Time in hopes that 10,000 barrels of oil per day could be conserved as businesses were able to take advantage of the daylight hours. Whether or not any real savings has been realized has yet to be determined, but the law became a permanent change.
Do you get mixed up, like I do, trying to decide which way to move your clock each time the change must be made? “Spring forward, fall back” is a little quip that helps.
More than once, I would not have realized it was the weekend for the time change if a friend hadn’t reminded me. But, my fear is that, even if I’m aware of it, I might forget to set my clocks back or ahead, whatever the case may be.
Last year, a chaplain friend of mine, assigned to a base in England, got up one fall Sunday morning and headed with his family to the Chapel for services. They wondered why there were no cars in the parking lot. Sure enough, they’d missed the time change. Even many other countries of the world observe Daylight Saving Time.
So, in the United States, when does the time change take place? At 2:00 AM on the first Sunday in November and again on the second Sunday in March.
Well, now you know. You’ve been duly reminded that this is the weekend to make the change to Daylight Saving Time. While I’m thinking about it, I think I’ll go ahead and set my clocks back right now so I don’t forget. I want to make sure I get to enjoy that extra hour of sleep!