Daylight Wastings Time

I've lived with the time change all my life, but for some reason this year it really hit me that it is an antiquated tradition that serves no purpose. With turning the clocks back an hour, the sun rose in Seattle today at 7:02 a.m. and set at 4:43 p.m. If we hadn't switched, it would have been 8:02 a.m. for the sunrise and 5:43 p.m. for the sunset. Now which one of those saves more daylight in your opinion?

With the new time, I now get to drive to work while it's light, get to spend every 'light' minute of the day at the office, and if I leave a little early I get to drive home while it is still light outside.

With the old time, I would have driven to the office in the dark, spend most of the 'light' minutes of the day at the office, and if I left a little early I would have been able to at least go for a walk while it was still light out.

So how is this saving time again? It isn't. If you have to be at the office between 8-9 a.m. , you can't go for a run or a hike at 7 a.m., get back home, get ready for work, and then drive to work.  A kid doesn't have time to play outside before school.

Setting the clocks back an hour may have saved daylight when everyone was a farmer and needed light earlier in the mornings to milk the cows, feed the pigs, and collect eggs (or whatever farmers do). That way the children of the family could help out with the chores and then still make it to school on time. Nowadays, it could be dark until 4 p.m. and most people wouldn't care because everyone is working or in school. Who cares if it's light outside if you have to sit inside all day anyway? Everyone's leisure time is set for after work or after school. Setting back the clocks makes it nearly impossible to enjoy the outdoors during the winter months, except for the weekend.

Maybe people aren't only gaining weight during the holiday season because they are eating more than usual. Maybe one of the contributing factors is that people can't go outside after 4 p.m. anymore. Maybe suicide rates rise during the holidays because people haven't seen the sun in 2 months.  You don't have to be unstable to get depressed about being in darkness for 6 months because it is in fact depressing. No fresh air, no vitamin D.

I don't know why this custom has not yet been abolished. Everyone seems to just accept it because that is how it's always been. But Daylight Wastings Time does not work for this generation anymore.  If anything, clocks should be moved ahead during the winter months instead of set back. If you want to give people more daylight, it needs to be in the afternoon, not in the morning.  Now, who in Olympia do I need to talk to in order to get this on the ballots?