The earlier Daylight Savings Time we experienced this year may have brought back memories of the year you went to school in the dark. A Mideast war had a domino effect that caused that particular memory for us one year. Here's how it went down:
On October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria crossed cease-fire lines and attacked Israeli-held land in the Golan Heights which it had obtained during the 1967 Six-Day War. This most recent conflict became known as the Yom Kippur War. When you have that many wars, you have to keep them straight.
Anyhow, Israel fought back and reclaimed its lands, and it was all over by October 26. Only it wasn't over. For the United States and any other pro-Israel nations, it was just beginning.
Those lovable lugs who form the coalition known as OPEC decided we all needed a spanking. So on October 17, while the little Yom Kippur thing was still going on, they announced that any nation that supported Israel would thereby be cut off from receiving any more of their oil.
In so doing, they managed to accomplish several things. They ended up doubling the price of oil. They caused a recession in the US. And they caused inflation to surge dramatically.
In many areas, long lines formed at the gas pumps. Many stations ran out of gas altogether. In southern California, they had odd-even days. You could only buy gas on the day that matched your license pate number. Vanity plate owners were odd or even based on how many letters were used.
In my area of northwest Arkansas, we were small enough in population that I don't remember lines of more than two or three cars. I don't recall any stations running out of gas, either. But the prices nearly tripled. It took a while for gas to go higher than a dollar a gallon, but eighty cents was still a shock when you were used to paying around thirty.
Laws were passed to deal with the crisis. They were both stupid. One dropped the nationwide speed limit to 55 miles per hour. It basically turned a predominantly law-abiding nation into one filled with speeders who grew used to violating that law, and would likely grow used to violating others. It took 21 years before it was finally done away with.
The other silly law was year-round Daylight Savings Time.
In the northern United States, daylight wouldn't arrive until well after 8:00 AM. That meant kids were going to school (walking, in many cases) in pitch black darkness. Did nobody in Congress or the Senate see a problem here?
We spent parts of two winters going to school in the dark. Then in 1975, the law was repealed. We were back to DST beginning in April and ending in October.
Interestingly, FDR instituted year-round DST in 1942 for the duration of the war. Complaints were fewer then, perhaps because the adjustment was called War Time, and patriotic fervor overrode any concerns for kids in the dark.
But there was no war in 1974, only a harried population already dealing with gas lines and closed stations. The last thing we needed was our kids going to school in danger of getting run over or abducted in the inky darkness.
The Embargo taught us that we shouldn't depend on imported oil, because its flow could be affected by things like idealogical beliefs. For a while, we learned and got smarter. The huge gas-guzzling cars Detroit had been selling us for years began to get smaller and stingier with gas. Alternative power sources were explored. Fuel consumption went down.
Alas, today, it's back up. We think we have to have four-wheel-drive to get around. Cars are getting bigger, although their overall mileage continues to improve. And while the hybrid vehicle is becoming more commonplace, research into alternative energy sources has slipped badly. We're importing more oil than ever.
But at least our grandkids aren't going to school in the dark.
Comments (13)
I remember my daughters going to school in the dark, and the law was repealed mainly because of the number of deaths attributed to kids being run over by school buses. The double-nickle law, however, was done away with around 1989 or 1990, not 1994.
Posted by Ron | March 20, 2007 4:43 AM
Posted on March 20, 2007 04:43
Well, as of 2006, we're back in the dark in Indiana (daylight savings)...I do not know of one person who likes it! Good old state government at work again. I have to wonder if it's just so government officials have enough sunlight at the end of the day to get in 18 holes after work!
Posted by Betsy | March 20, 2007 7:51 AM
Posted on March 20, 2007 07:51
Time makes one wonder and others forget. I remember the lights went out in the North East on the evening of 9 November 1965. Your eyes adjusted to the light or to put it better the lack of light. People became friendly. As you walked in awe from the unusual experience you were the same but now had a different view of everything. Slums as people would describe the area we called home looked the very same as any other place in the dark and strangers who would normally look at you with distrust or curiosity would now greet you with smiling teeth reflecting from the night sky. You would just look up at the stars and just say “Wow”! The stars were always there but you never got to see them as the city lights reflected off the clouds. Little did I know that in less than two years that I would be in the dark again in a strange land called VietNam!
Posted by R. Capelle | March 20, 2007 8:28 AM
Posted on March 20, 2007 08:28
Growing up in New Jersey, I totally remember that. The moon was rising in front of my house as I was getting ready to walk to school. It felt very magical
Posted by Rhea | March 20, 2007 9:37 AM
Posted on March 20, 2007 09:37
I have a way to deal with the DST, and school...Move the school hours..Nothing says school has to start at 8AM..I remember the starting time when i was in grade school was 9AM..
Posted by greg12866 | March 20, 2007 10:04 AM
Posted on March 20, 2007 10:04
I was on the cross-country team and we had morning (before school) work-outs. For awhile our work-outs started and stopped in the dark. It was actually pretty cool.
Also, not to argue with your previous poster, I am very happy they moved up the time for changing the clocks. Gives more opportunity to do things outside in the evening. People are always going to be a tad grumpy in the a.m., dark or not, but this allows for a better disposition at the end of the day.
Posted by Wesley | March 20, 2007 11:12 AM
Posted on March 20, 2007 11:12
We were living in Michigan at the time and after the first week of going to school in the dark, some school districts started school one hour later. We had dark and lots of snow to make it worse. A cartoon in a newspaper showed Nixon cutting off the end of a blanket and sewing it to the other end to make it longer. Makes sense to the government.
Posted by L. Baker | March 20, 2007 12:07 PM
Posted on March 20, 2007 12:07
At age 75 I remember so many things so well. But, I'm like the farmer who didn't like Daylight Saving Time because the extra hour of sun each day was burning his corn crop!!!!
Posted by Ben Neal | March 20, 2007 12:33 PM
Posted on March 20, 2007 12:33
It was not just Southern California that had the odd-even system for buying gas - it was the entire state.
Posted by Michelle Pestana | March 20, 2007 1:28 PM
Posted on March 20, 2007 13:28
I grew up in Canada, in Quebec. And for us, all through the winter, it was just plain dark. Dark in the morning, dark coming home from school, dark so early you would want to go to sleep at dinner! I don't recall us experiencing lights out in Quebec -- probably because our energy was hydroelectric and readily available. I do remember speed limits being lowered and lines at the gas pumps.
Posted by Wendy Spiegel | March 20, 2007 2:37 PM
Posted on March 20, 2007 14:37
OH! And congrats on being the Kim Komando Cool site of the day.
Posted by Wendy Spiegel | March 20, 2007 2:38 PM
Posted on March 20, 2007 14:38
I remember the year round DST. Rather than have kids go to school in the dark, the school district delayed starting time by an hour. I loved that!
Posted by Dixie | March 20, 2007 5:27 PM
Posted on March 20, 2007 17:27
I remember that too, I was 7 years old and in first grade. I remember we all walked to the bustop with flashlights and small camp lanterns. Even though our parents were upset at this, we kids did find ways to have fun at the school bustop pretening the flashlights were Star Trek phasers or getting in a qucik game of "German Spotlight."
Posted by Charles D. Mandus | April 28, 2007 10:43 PM
Posted on April 28, 2007 22:43