I want daylight savings time.  

There, I’ve said it. 

Strike me down now. This writer wishes to make clear that he is a proud supporter of the daylight savings time initiative. I will shout the truth regardless of whether the masses wish to hear it. 

I like waking up in the daylight! I want to see the road as I commute! I don’t like walking home in the pitch black! 

DST is slandered by those who have forgotten its purpose, who are unwilling to listen and are unwilling to inconvenience themselves for the sake of others. 

Is it my fault that my ancestors decided to stop the covered wagon in the inhospitable Midwest? Should I be punished just because I live somewhere in the northern U.S.? Am I to blame for residing in a city which sees less than ten hours of sunlight a day during the winter? 

I can understand the critics. But that doesn’t mean I agree with them.  

Yes, it’s a pain when we “spring forward.” I hate as much as anyone the dread that comes with waking up an hour earlier. But is it not worth it? Do we not gain more than we lose? Not only do we get the boon of more sleep (“fall back”), but we also get more sunlit hours in the day. The tradeoff is there, yes, but I am tired of hearing that is not worth it. 

I want to go to school, come home and still be able to see the sun. Critics simply cannot comprehend that fact. 

I ask, have southerners ever had to endure a day of waking in the cold and driving to work in the pitch black? Have they ever been forced to shovel their driveways in the freezing desolation of a January day? Have they had to turn around and come home eight hours later in the same darkness?  

Or is it that these critics have grown too vocal? Those who live with the constant favor of the sun, fattened on the meat of the choicest calf, have the audacity to suggest we deserve less light.  

In a not-too-distant past, we weren’t constrained by such constructs as time. Man was free to live according to his own devices, answering to no one. We lived as the beasts of the land did; rising and sleeping with the arc of the sun.  

Then the industrial revolution happened, and now I must be tortured by such infernal devices as clocks, watches and time management. Why does progress mean that I can no longer simply follow sunrise and sunset? Every fall I must watch my dwindling hours of daylight get progressively fewer –– all because of clocks. 

Daylight savings was an attempt to strike back and gain control over our lives. As a nation we saw that something must be done to save our sleep. The commitments of our lives should follow the natural order. Classes, jobs and meetings should not take precedent over our circadian rhythm. It worked. People across the north of the U.S. rejoiced for the invention of DST. 

Now we are in danger of losing what little ground we’ve gained. 

There has been a push to abolish daylight savings. For too long, we have let the critics go unchallenged. Ignorant politicians have demanded that we give up our precious daylight so they can win over a voting bloc. 

I will stand alone if I must. But I will stand. 

I will declare my love for Daylight Savings. And I am not ashamed of it.