It’s time once again to welcome a brighter world

Let us all spring forward together, say hallelujah!

Yes, once again the moment has arrived where we use the alchemy of arbitrary man-made manipulation of time to make the world a little brighter. At 2 a.m. Sunday, daylight saving time begins anew.

This is glorious news for those of us who love that extra dose of light in the evening, those lingering moments of twilight as we happily gather around the grill to watch the ribeyes sizzle as the birds perform their nightly chorus. Thus, it is with joy in our hearts that we move our clocks forward to gain an extra hour of light at night.

We know this is an illusion. It doesn’t change the way the earth rotates; it just changes the way we measure the passing hours.

Still, it is so much more than that.

Daylight saving time represents an official farewell to the dark season. And it also is a pointed rebuke to the smugness of early risers.

Yes, there are people who don’t like daylight saving time. Those early birds comprise the largest contingent of whiners about the time change.

They complain about how unpleasant it is to rise at 6 a.m. to take their morning constitutional or eat their dry wheat toast or whatever they do at that ungodly hour – and to have to do it all while it’s dark outside.

There’s a simple solution, of course: Stay in bed. That’s where people belong at 6 a.m. Just ask a teenager.

Perhaps the only immutable truth about daylight saving time is that some people love it and some people hate it. But it appears that those who love lingering daylight are finally winning the day.

In 2007, Congress increased the period of daylight saving time by four weeks, adding three weeks in the spring and one in the fall. That means we now live under this time regime for nearly eight months out of the year.

Shouldn’t daylight saving time now be recognized as “standard” time – as in gold standard?

While fondness for daylight saving time is considered a subjective view, there is a growing body of objective evidence that indicates the extra hour of daylight is beneficial for all of us. For example, a study by Cornell University and the Brookings Institution showed that when daylight saving time begins in the spring, crime rates for the whole day fall an average of 7 percent and a whopping 27 percent during the evening hour that gained some extra sunlight.

“Most street crime occurs in the evening around common commuting hours of 5 to 8 p.m.,” the study states, “and more ambient light during typical high-crime hours makes it easier for victims and passers-by to see potential threats and later identify wrongdoers.”

So, why don’t criminals just get busier during the early part of the day while it’s still dark? Most criminals apparently aren’t morning people, according to the study.

One of the other arguments against the time change is that it seriously disrupts our lives. And that is hard to dispute.

The change – especially moving our clocks forward an hour – disturbs our daily rhythms, causing lost sleep and headaches. That, in turn, contributes to increased rates of heart attacks, car accidents and work injuries.

But there’s a simple solution to this, too: convert to daylight saving time year ’round.

No more switching our clocks back and forth, just more daylight when we can use it. We need to get rid of “daylight losing time” and make the switch permanent.

This story was originally published March 11, 2017 at 9:52 PM with the headline "It’s time once again to welcome a brighter world."