So tonight when we go to bed, we've got to set our clocks back one hour.  An adjustment we make twice a year to "save daylight."  This phrase has always baffled me. 

Daylight is not saved, it's just moved -- from the beginning of the day to the middle of the day.  The merchants who came up with this time-dance scheme felt the daylight was more valuable during "leisure hours" (translation: hours from which you can buy things).

My value of daylight hours is not economic.  Sunlight does not signal my brain to "go forth and shop!"  Sunlight warms my skin and brightens my view.  Somehow it makes green seem more green, and it makes me want to get out in it.  Get out it in the green grass, not move around green paper. 

All the advertisements and social cues in the world cannot cause me to forget what I really am -- a wondrously complex and sapient being, not a "consumer" thank you very much.

Tick-Tock Goes My Clock

This is how I want to spend my time,
not in shopping aisles.
I've got life!
And consumer culture
cannot fool me into thinking
I merely exist to buy and sell more stuff.
I am more than that.
I am a reflection
of You who hung the stars.

-Erika Harris