Enjoying the thought of seeing evening sunshine; or, What 'is' time?!?

We’re now in that time of year that seems to offend a certain segment of our society in a way that I never truly will comprehend.

How was your Monday?

I’m referring to the concept of Daylight Saving Time – where the clocks are adjusted by an hour so as to create as much daylight as possible.

BY THE TIME the concept reaches its peak in mid-June, we’ll have the sun still shining in the skies above us until about 9 p.m. Which is certainly a more pleasing notion than the idea of sundown arriving by about 4:30 p.m. – which is what it was at back in December when so-called “natural time” is at its peak.

I like the idea of as much daylight as possible. I wish it were possible to have Daylight Saving Time year-round – and yes, I realize the vagaries of the Earth’s tilt and natural rotation around the Sun would mean we couldn’t ever have a year-round sundown around 9 p.m.

So I’m happy to think the amount of daylight we’re going to experience will stretch out longer and longer with the coming days. It’s like we get a little more time to use to get our business done.

Although I’m also aware that my view is not a popular one amongst some people. For all I know, some people reading this are now shouting choice obscenities and questioning my overall intelligence quotient.

SOME PEOPLE WANT to think that standard time is the way things are supposed to be. As though we’re somehow messing with Mother Nature’s natural structure of our Earth by altering time.

Even though time, itself, is a man-made concept. The time zones created originally in this country to accommodate railroad schedules.

Or, back in the Soviet Union of old – which was such a large country that it stretched across 11 of the globe’s 24 time zones (as opposed to the continental United States that covers four zones), yet all 11 zones were put on “Moscow Time.”

Way too accurate to be humorous

Which meant there were the easternmost regions of that nation that spent much of their days in the dark. THAT MAY BE the most depressing part of the U.S.S.R.

WHICH MAKES ME appreciate the idea of the coming of more daylight all the more.

Waking up on Sunday at 8 a.m. because my body clock thought it was still 7 a.m. wasn’t a jolt to me the way some people complain about losing the hour – particularly since later in the year when the time changes back, we’ll gain an extra hour of time.

Although if you want real confusion over time, consider the situation right here in Illinois and nearby Indiana. Most of the Hoosier State falls within the Eastern Time Zone, while we in Illinois are an hour behind in the Central Time Zone.

Except for the far northwesternmost-corner of Indiana that is also Central. Which puts places like Gary and Valparaiso an hour behind the rest of the state – including the capital city of Indianapolis.

THAT PREDICAMENT HAS some Indiana officials thinking the whole state ought to shift to one time zone – the Central. Which would put all of the state in line with Chicago-, rather than New York-time.

Which in a certain sense would be logical – all of the Midwestern U.S, on a common time zone. Although some are complaining that now Indiana would be split off from its eastern and southern neighbors.

Need a new watch?

Evansville, Ind., and Louisville, Ky., would wind up in different zones (with a Kentucky city being an hour ahead). Somehow, that seems odd.

Whether that idea will ever come about is uncertain. The state’s Legislature is running into people who think it’s “natural” for the status-quo to remain. Perhaps they’re the kind who wish the time hadn’t changed this week so they could remain in the dark.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: One thing I like about professional baseball -- the entirety of the season from April through late October, takes place during Daylight Saving Time. Time changes back to standard time Nov. 4.