leap year...

So it's leap year and this, February 29th, is the day that makes all the difference. Without launching into song I wonder what a difference a day makes. For that matter, I also speculate how necessary DST is -- aside from being useful to farmers who still depend on daylight. I don't recall ever having felt any different for having my days extended or shortened nor having an extra day added to my year. I barely notice a difference when elections and the Olympics come around, but then again my concept of time is really poor; minutes can feel like hours and hours can feel like minutes. This has been listed as a trait for those with varying degrees of learning disabilities, but I digress.

I can't help but wonder if all these little time shifts are truly necessary. I don't recall any primitive culture resorting to any of this tom foolery in any of my studies. They didn't need to do all these adjustments to make it possible to effectively count time, plan their growing seasons, astronomical figuring, etc. so why do we? Can our culture not leave well enough alone? Does it truly make a difference to our lives to straddle the fence of time as if it were a high wire act? Does it really make sense when we have to make incremental adjustments by 30 seconds or ten minutes to our clocks to effectively count time? Most people don't even keep time that accurately in the first place so give me a break!

People have been programmed to have a need for time. Time is conceptual, not to be harnessed by faulty gadgets which incorrectly measure its units. Schedules are an invention of man which is supposed to adhere to time, but rather they adhere to these devices which measure time incorrectly. Do I need a flawed measure of time? Do I need an extra day scheduled for me? Do I need a schedule? Do I need any of this? I don't think I need a single adjustment for time in order for my life to benefit. I think I can grasp living in this world well enough without adhering to any of these flawed designs made by man. I dare say I have a better concept of time and its perpetual existence than any contemporary calendrical system.

Perhaps instead of us changing in accordance to the system, we ought to change the system. I know, how 1960s of me. Yet these are the changes that make people think. These are the changes that can truly affect our lives which may benefit us for the better. Imagine businesses operating beyond the hours of 9-5. Imagine round the clock shifts. Imagine working any time of day you wanted instead of morning or graveyard shifts. Imagine having meals at any time based on your own personal needs. Imagine you can go out to eat any meal at any time. imagine shopping, driving, conducting business, settling personal matters, receiving parcels, and more at any hour of the day because businesses were open long enough to accommodate your personal needs rather than how financially effective it was to do so.

Some cities operate all day and night. They have to have all shifts covered. I imagine eventually most of the world will operate in this way, but why wait? Why not adapt now rather than later? Why not do something that's beneficial rather than adhere to the mundane? Isn't it time we make our lives better for ourselves?