Harbinger, Lifebringer

Gather close all you hold dear, and run and hide—a great evil is upon us.

We are currently entrenched in probably my favorite time of the year: the autumn. This has likely been apparent to those of you who have eyes and use them to see things. On the calendar, it tells you we are in the months generally held in the northern hemisphere to make up autumn. Also trees start going through weird hormonal changes, and it looks cool to the rest of us, unlike our own hormonal changes as tweens. Autumn presents a time of transcendent beauty, and a time of transition. Although the transition itself is a sight to behold, it is a transition to a bleaker time. Indeed, after fall’s beauty has passed us by, a heartless dame comes to take something precious and usher in the cold night of winter...

Whether or not you buy into its efficiency or sensibility, Daylight Saving is a veritable entity in the majority of the United States. It comes around twice a year. Each time, Daylight Saving involves a mysterious form of time travel—you go to bed and wake up and time itself has shifted. You see, Daylight Saving time was invented by the druids, who cast a spell on the sun and created a wormhole through which the sun and the earth would pass twice a year, once taking us back in time an hour and once propelling us into the future an hour. Because of this wormhole time travel and paradigm shift, the relationship between the earth and the sun is altered, and the time at which the sun sets and rises is altered along with it. So Daylight Saving comes twice a year, and we’re lucky to survive it—it’s a pretty big deal. One of these times, it is harbinger lifebringer, my favorite thing in the entire world. The other time, it is my greatest enemy, the bane of my very existence. The former is Spring Forward. The very mention of it makes my heart spring from my chest and propel itself an unsafe distance from my body. The latter is Fall Back. Many people enjoy ‘Fall Back,’ because it gives them an extra hour of sleep. These people are the wrongest people I’ve ever mentioned on the internet.

Imagine a world shrouded in darkness. It shouldn’t be too hard to imagine—Pitbull won a Grammy. You awake to the sound of nothing, echoing off of nothing else. You peer out the window and see shadows, cast by nothing onto nothing else. The moon hails from afar, distant enough that it’s light ne’er seems to reach. There is no laughter, there is no hope. Darkness without respite, hollowness without end. You peer into the lugubriousness and feel only a reflection of what has become of your conscience. You arise to blackness—a blackness that accompanies you throughout your day, surrounding your physical being while permeating the mental. You lie down again in blackness. The accomplishments of your day are swallowed up in the gaping hole left in the sky by the departure of the only thing that gave you any meaning. This is your life now.

Now think about the alternative. You time travel to another time, full of light and warmth and heat and prosperity. You have an extra hour of light to do whatever you please, or whatever pleases you. And in this extra hour, you are warm. You can feel the love and innocence of a child. You bask in the majesty of life and understanding. You are at peace. You are one. The reason you lose an hour of sleep is because you are so excited to travel to this time and place. It’s something new and exciting, yet familiar all at the same time. It’s something brave and candescent, something inspiring and grand. Inaudible music ebbs and flows around you and you feel inspiration in each ray from the sun that gently glazes your skin. You know that this is where you’re meant to be. You’ve always been meant to be, but especially here. It’s like coming home to a home, the air filled with the scent of freshly baked bread, the walls covered in pictures of loved ones and achievements. You plop down on a gentle couch and it all comes rushing back to you. Disappointed that you’d ever let it leave in the first place, you take it all in, top it off with a deep breath, and sink into the dream-like reality.

If you're not awares and maybe missed the wormhole, we have just experienced Fall Back. Sure, Fall Back allows for an extra hour of sleep. But that only happens once. And in this Fallen Back world you’ve encountered, an hour of sunlight has been sucked from your day every day. When you’re subject to an early sunset, the darkness onsets sooner. This reminds you of the frailty of life and your inability to control your surroundings. As the darkness sets in, so does your doubt and all of your fears—one hour earlier than usual. So you get to keep your hour, but instead of being an hour of light and happiness and hope and motivation, it’s an hour filled with dread and regret for all the things you’ve done and all the things you could be. I feel it. I feel it every day. To me the choice is clear.

And so until then, I await thee, Harbinger, Lifebringer, Songsinger, Lightslinger; until the bright dawn of lengthened day sends forth a new hope and fills our lives with surety, allows us to dream again. Until the dross of frailty is pulled from our hearts, I will press on, eager in anticipation, waiting strong for that great day. Yea; come.