Why do we always "Fall Back" into a surprised state of mind?

Daylight Saving Time (DST) or as some may say, daylight shifting, occurs in the Fall and the Spring each year.  It was originally Benjamin Franklin's great idea (gee, thanks Ben).   It's initial purpose was not the farmers, as the myth goes, but to allow people to have extra light at the end of the day in the spring and summer months, and save burning candles in the dark of the morning.  What it boils down to is a lot of hassle for most of us, especially those who have to reset devices and excessive amounts of clocks.  It takes me days to catch up to the car, microwave, watches, computers, wall clocks and all the rest!  I'm sure you have all experienced the confusion when you relied on the "wrong clock", the one you forgot to reset, right?

At least we can thank the Congress under President Bush for one thing; for pushing back the descent into early darkness for some extra weeks each year....for shortening the period of early-onset dusk by about a month.  Supposedly it was based on some energy issue.  This year, with the change occurring on Halloween night, it gave costumed revelers the opporunity to feed at their favorite water hole for an extra hour....legally. 

Why does it irk me that people still act surprised each year that it is getting darker earlier than before?  Their ability to drive in the dark suddenly seems impaired (does no one drive at night if they work 9 to 6 jobs??).  And friends and strangers are often overheard saying "yeah, we gained an extra hour".  What the heck are they talking about?  Isn't that "extra hour" unceremoniously yanked away from us in the springtime as we "Spring Forward" in the other phase of Daylight Saving Time.  BTW, what kind of Daylight are we saving?  Isn't it just light outside for a digital-clock-hour earlier every day while our fun-in-the-sun hour is clipped off on the backside.  The way I see it we have exactly as many daylight hours every day, just shifted.   The days get shorter in the winter as the sun heads south for the winter solstice, which is around December 21st.  In other words, it gets dark early and stays dark longer in the winter anyway.

Come on people, wake up (earlier than before) and smell the coffee (if you remembered to set back the clock on your automatic coffee maker, that is).  When are the people going to finally stand up and demand that this nonsense, and all it's requisite clock-changing, stop once and for all, leaving us with summer hours all year long?!

enjoy the long nights!

Tansy

ref: Daylight Saving Time