Time Shifting [CCR]

Yet again the time changed, at least according to us. I’m not sure the trees, rocks, streams, or anything else God placed on Earth really cares about the time. In my case I maybe things actually improved. Ever since I moved back home from the Eastern time zone I have been in bed by 8:30 PM and up at 4:30 AM. My wife, children, and even the folks at the office think I am crazy. Well, today I finally arrived at the office about the time everyone else arrived. I’m not sure it really matters.

Granddaddy Daily was a woodsman. He rose with the sun, worked throughout the day taking a break for lunch when it was possible, and then returned home in time for his home chores before sunset. He had a family to feed. The trees and the sun didn’t change their clocks. The only effect he saw was shorter days in the winter with colder weather. Those shorter days meant extra work in the summer to prepare for the winter just as God’s other creatures prepare for winter.

Things weren’t much different for those folks farming down in the valley by the river. The cotton didn’t really care about the time. It only knew the combination of warm weather and water allowed it to present a healthy crop. Clocks weren’t really necessary. When the sun peaked over the horizon it was time to head to the field and tend to the crops that would provide sustenance for life.

The change came when man decided to organize efforts. Maybe we could have planned to meet when the sun topped the first pines, but our industrial growth meant work would extend through the evening hours and tighter time coordination was necessary. Today we have fancy gadgetry that receives the “official” government time by which we all conform. I must assume it gives a good payback to coordinate ourselves as our output has increased. But do we really need to shift the clock to tell us to take advantage of daylight? It wasn’t necessary for our ancestors, but it seems so to us.

Now we decided to make more shifts that confuse all these computers and yet again I had to patch all that gadgetry that helps me earn a living. But my body doesn’t want a patch. Yet it needs a time shift along with every other person. I could complain that it adds to the stress that we already pile on. Folks pass on the highway with their toes in the carburetor praying they get to work on time. I reckon all that coordinated effort requires conformity, but nature tells me otherwise.

I never asked Granddaddy if he twisted the hands of the old cuckoo clock twice a year. Since we didn’t start shifting time until he was already half way through his life I am not sure if he thought it was necessary. At least I’ve been adjusting since childhood. Granddaddy had to start his shifting after he had already been synchronized to God’s natural cycle. Benjamin Franklin first proposed all this change long before our government decided it was a good idea. I wonder if God gets a little chuckle at our efforts to coordinate.