On the Side| Brad Hicks

 I have an interesting circle of friends with whom a debate always winds up in laughs. It’s great when people can get together to discuss some of the more pressing matters of the day, and walk away from it knowing whether there were disagreements or agreements, that close friendship status was and is never endangered.

Politics, religion, the merits of fishing, cats or dogs, whether the TP roll should come over the top or from the bottom – you name it, we’ve hashed it out, agreed to disagree, laughed for hours, and, frankly, generated column topics for me for a few decades. Yes, I’ve written about the great toilet paper debate. Hey, at least in terms of elevation, it’s above where the presidential election took us.

But one debate that has raged twice a year for years is this matter of daylight time versus standard time. So I found interesting the other day a story from the Northeast. It simply started: “Lacking authority to change the laws of physics to allow more sunlight on the darkest days of winter, a special commission is instead considering whether Massachusetts should change the laws of man and observe daylight savings time year-round.”

Of course, that’s followed by a presentation of arguments that rivals the pre-Civil War debates in the U.S. Congress. 

I have a friend who is an avid outdoorsman. We’ll call him Erik – because that’s his real name. Erik hates the switching back-and-forth of time here in Iowa. In fact, he despises Daylight Savings Time in particular. He enjoys his mornings, and if left to him, the sun would rise on June 21 at approximately 4:30 a.m. and set at about 8 p.m. It would bookend almost perfectly with Dec. 21, with a sunrise near 8 a.m. and a sunset near 4:30 p.m.  He goes to bed early, so when it’s daylight in Des Moines at 9 p.m., it’s disruptive of his sleep.

I remember calling Erik one Saturday morning at about 7 a.m. Usually, that’s pretty early for a friendly chat. I asked him if he had any work done yet. Yes, he said, he had already been to the grocery store and the hardware store.

On the other hand, I love those long summer evenings when golf is available until 9 p.m. or after. I love seeing the sun cast a shadow that runs from northwest to southeast. And the sunrise at 5:30 a.m. fits about right with my sleep pattern.

I’ve always felt that in the Midwest, given our decision to live through a cold winter, we ought to be blessed with nice summers that feature lots of after-work daylight for us to enjoy being outside without doing so in a snowmobile suit. 

Massachusetts is considering making daylight savings time its permanent time. If we did that in Iowa, the sun would rise on these winter mornings after 8 a.m. for a good chunk of time, and even after 8:30 a.m. for a while. We would have sunsets in December at 5:30 p.m., and then getting later.

I get the concern about kids going to school in the dark if such a change were made. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure the number of children walking and biking to school these days is far lower than it was a generation ago. The concern about, and prevalence of, child predators has resulted in more children getting a ride to school.

You have reached this part of the column – I’m sure some didn’t – and you are probably wondering what the point is. The point is, I’ve now given you a new topic to discuss with your great circle of friends. I think you will find there are more strident opinions about it than you thought. Just remember to laugh at the end. It’s what great friends do.

Brad Hicks is editor/publisher of The Express. Contact him at publisher@redoakexpress.com.