Falling Back

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted something, I needed a few tries to remember the password. Anyway, life has a way of going through seasons and for the last little season my writings been done in other forums. More to come at a later date. Today I have been thinking about the practice of Daylight Savings.

Last week as we were leading into the change of clocks for most of the United States, I heard several people complain about the fact that they lose an hour of sun once we turn the clocks back. Every science teacher should grown at that kind of statement. It is not that we lose any amount of the sunlight, it only get rearranged. Sure for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere the sun is around less during the winter but that has nothing to do with the clocks on the wall it is the little thing called creation.

No matter if we see it as losing an hour of daylight, or we remember our basic science lessons, I am struck by something even deeper about the issue. We are the one of a handful of countries that continue to have the audacity to manipulate this thing called time for our own benefit. Interestingly of the countries who continue to observe the crazy practice, there is a high frequency of countries in the privileged world, meaning North America and Europe with a few other highly developed countries. For most of the world the thought of manipulating the cycle of creation was given up, while others still never bothered. There are many reasons stated for the practice, and the proponents will be loud about how important it is to our economic system and other very treasured things. I say, it is pure audacity and self-interest.

There are many places where we can clearly see the shifting times from the Modern era, the Enlightenment, to the Postmodern era. In world that is increasingly postmodern holding onto this tradition of time change has a strong grasp in the Modern era. During the Modern era it has been common for humanity to rearrange the world and the way it functions for their personal benefit. This is the birthplace of the idea that we gain or lose and hour of sunlight because we change the clocks. Quite simply we could manipulate the clock all we want to and it will have no impact on the amount of sunlight one area gets. Further the claimed benefits of the time change are all steeped in consumerism. We want to maximize the amount of time we can make money, and we do not want to be inconvenienced by this pesky thing called darkness.

If you are still reading this, you probably have that look on your face accompanied by the thought of, okay I think Aaron is loosening his grip on reality and what is most important. You might be right. This is not the most pressing issue we face. The change of the clocks on the grand scheme of things really does not matter, unless you pay attention to the related health issues due to the change. The issue for me is that we as humanity repeatedly manipulate creation for our benefit and pleasure. True we were given stewardship over creation, and we are to enjoy meeting God in creation. However, we are not suppose to change it for our benefit.

In the end, I am sure we will continue to have Daylight Savings because we have always done it that way. I simply wonder if we stop and think about the foolishness of manipulating creation for our benefit, I am sure that doesn't happen any other place of situation, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.