Somewhere along the line, I turned into Don Shepley.
My Oldman got up early, got his work done and went to bed soon after Barney Miller or The McLaughlin Group.
When I was younger, I could not understand it. Eight o’clock was when the night began. It wasn’t when a man started looking for his pajamas. We would go out for dinner after eight, find a tavern after dinner and stay awake until the crack of dawn.
Now I am usually in bed shortly after eight and up before the crack of dawn. The party has changed times and locations. Instead of closing down a bar, I am chalking the Morning Chalkboard.
Ben Franklin supposedly said, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” I have managed the early-to-bed and early-to-rise part. The healthy, wealthy and wise departments remain a work in progress.
That brings me to Washington D.C. and its latest attempt to improve something that does not need improvement.
The House voted yesterday to make daylight saving time permanent. The Senate still has to act, but President Trump supports the idea. I support ending the ridiculous ritual of changing the clocks twice a year. I simply believe they are choosing the wrong clock to follow.
Make standard time permanent instead.
We tried permanent daylight savings time during the energy crisis in 1974, President Nixon signed it. Americans quickly discovered that an extra hour of evening light came with children waiting for school buses in the dark and working people jumping on the Ike or the L before sunrise.
The experiment became so unpopular that President Ford signed legislation returning the country to standard time before the planned trial was finished.
Washington already ran this rodeo. The country gave its answer.
Here in Chicago, permanent daylight savings time would push some winter sunrises past eight o’clock in the morning. That is not a minor inconvenience. That is children walking to school, commuters driving to work and laborers beginning their day in darkness.
The politicians sell us the idea of “more daylight.” They are not creating daylight. They are moving a number on a clock. The sun is not taking orders from Congress.
For a man who shows you Chalkheads the sunrise and sunset every morning, I have a pretty good idea where the sun should be. I also know where Donald Trump should not be repositioning it.
The president has more important matters in front of him. He should worry about finishing off Iran, protecting the country and keeping America great. He does not need to create another health and safety problem by pretending the federal government can negotiate with the solar system.
Today we are in a new moon, halfway between full moons. The sky has gone dark for a moment before beginning again.
The new moon is a chance for us to reset our clocks and evaluate the state of our being. I am no tree-hugging Deadhead dancing barefoot around a drum circle, but I do believe we are balanced by the moon, the sun and the stars. Human beings lived according to those rhythms long before senators discovered television cameras.
We do not need a congressman, senator or president handling our realignments. The heavens can manage themselves. Our job is to pay attention.
Maybe becoming Donald Joseph Aloysius Shepley is not the worst thing that could happen to me. There is something honest about rising with the morning, doing your work while the world is humming along and turning in before the nine o’clock news.
The government can change the clock, but it cannot change the sun. Whatever time Washington prints on the wall, the morning will still arrive when it is damn ready. So will the sunset and so will the next full moon.
…. and wherever the hands land, gusto and astonishment will always be there.
My Oldman got up early, got his work done and went to bed soon after Barney Miller or The McLaughlin Group.
When I was younger, I could not understand it. Eight o’clock was when the night began. It wasn’t when a man started looking for his pajamas. We would go out for dinner after eight, find a tavern after dinner and stay awake until the crack of dawn.
Now I am usually in bed shortly after eight and up before the crack of dawn. The party has changed times and locations. Instead of closing down a bar, I am chalking the Morning Chalkboard.
Ben Franklin supposedly said, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” I have managed the early-to-bed and early-to-rise part. The healthy, wealthy and wise departments remain a work in progress.
That brings me to Washington D.C. and its latest attempt to improve something that does not need improvement.
The House voted yesterday to make daylight saving time permanent. The Senate still has to act, but President Trump supports the idea. I support ending the ridiculous ritual of changing the clocks twice a year. I simply believe they are choosing the wrong clock to follow.
Make standard time permanent instead.
We tried permanent daylight savings time during the energy crisis in 1974, President Nixon signed it. Americans quickly discovered that an extra hour of evening light came with children waiting for school buses in the dark and working people jumping on the Ike or the L before sunrise.
The experiment became so unpopular that President Ford signed legislation returning the country to standard time before the planned trial was finished.
Washington already ran this rodeo. The country gave its answer.
Here in Chicago, permanent daylight savings time would push some winter sunrises past eight o’clock in the morning. That is not a minor inconvenience. That is children walking to school, commuters driving to work and laborers beginning their day in darkness.
The politicians sell us the idea of “more daylight.” They are not creating daylight. They are moving a number on a clock. The sun is not taking orders from Congress.
For a man who shows you Chalkheads the sunrise and sunset every morning, I have a pretty good idea where the sun should be. I also know where Donald Trump should not be repositioning it.
The president has more important matters in front of him. He should worry about finishing off Iran, protecting the country and keeping America great. He does not need to create another health and safety problem by pretending the federal government can negotiate with the solar system.
Today we are in a new moon, halfway between full moons. The sky has gone dark for a moment before beginning again.
The new moon is a chance for us to reset our clocks and evaluate the state of our being. I am no tree-hugging Deadhead dancing barefoot around a drum circle, but I do believe we are balanced by the moon, the sun and the stars. Human beings lived according to those rhythms long before senators discovered television cameras.
We do not need a congressman, senator or president handling our realignments. The heavens can manage themselves. Our job is to pay attention.
Maybe becoming Donald Joseph Aloysius Shepley is not the worst thing that could happen to me. There is something honest about rising with the morning, doing your work while the world is humming along and turning in before the nine o’clock news.
The government can change the clock, but it cannot change the sun. Whatever time Washington prints on the wall, the morning will still arrive when it is damn ready. So will the sunset and so will the next full moon.
…. and wherever the hands land, gusto and astonishment will always be there.
