Daylight Savings Time Blows

Anyone who has a spouse or partner knows that there are things you do for your beloved in a moment of weakness because you love the person. You do not realize that you were suffering from a moment of weakness until you suffer from said action. I agreed to let hubby take my laptop with him on his business trip because his company laptop is in his words crap. It isn't crap because it doesn't do what he wants it to, exactly. It is crap because it isn't very good at doing what he wants it to do - play games, watch DVD's, watch t.v., and perhaps I don't want to know what else. Within 7 hours of his departure, I knew I had made a very big mistake. I had files I needed on MY laptop. Did he say, "Honey, is there anything you would like me to download from your laptop for you?" No. Why? Because he didn't want me thinking that perhaps I needed MY laptop more than he did.

This is the kind of thinking that led to the early adoption of Daylight Savings Time. Men wanted more time to play golf. Men thought long and hard how to accomplish this goal. Then the dimmest one of the bunch said, "Hey, let's start Daylight Savings Time early!" The other men in the group agreed, because, hey, why do any more work than necessary. Somebody already had an idea. To further the cause tell the public how much gas it will save, how much better it will be, but under no circumstances mention golf. By the time the poor slobs figure it out, we will be on greens laughing at our genius. (Insert evil laugh here.)

As a consequence, this morning when I woke up, I had no idea what time it was. Why? Because unlike Friday morning when I woke up for work, it was pitch black outside. Even the dog wasn't sure what time it was. Once I was able to drag my uncooperative butt out of bed, I determined that there could only be one penalty for the dim witted instigator of this premature time change - death. Monday morning is hell enough without the added bonus of your body believing it is an hour earlier than the alarm clock says it is. I believe that this crime should include death and that the author of the travesty should be poked in the butt by a pitchfork for all eternity every time someone curses the early time change.

Why should an hour cost us so much? Seriously. It's only an hour, the time it takes us to watch Law and Order: Criminal Intent or The Closer. I spend hours rather freely. I can knit a pair of baby booties in an hour. So, why should it make such a difference to move things forward one measly little hour? I think what bothers me most about it is this idea that time is a false construct. If we can randomly move an hour here or there, then the measures of time are just a human made construct to order our day. The naturally occurring markers of the day are dawn, midday, sunset, and night. The rhythm is much slower.

We do suffer from this false construct of divisions of time because we believe we can control time. We believe that time will expand to allow us to cram as much into our days as possible. We arrive at the weekend, only to have more activities planned that we couldn't get to during the week. Sitting and doing nothing isn't an option. We must produce. If we aren't being productive, then what is our worth? We are worth only what we can measure.

Knitting doesn't really do well in this type of environment. To knit a garment that fits and is crafted to be aesthetically pleasing takes time. Moreover, it takes mindfulness on the part of the knitter. To knit mindfully requires us to slow down and to pay attention to what we are doing. This mindfulness forces us to pay attention, to think and not just react. I have gone down the road of knitting without thinking, reacting to a design flaw in a pattern without analysis, and giving up my laptop without seriously considering the consequences. The results have been knitting two right fronts, knitting a cardigan for an adult with a 4 inch nape of the neck, and being separated from some writing in process. None of these are desireable. Have I learned my lesson. Only until the next time.