Working with differences–DST

I grew up in an Amish community.  Most of the Amish in this community did not change their clocks to follow daylight savings. As a result, we often needed to tell time in two different ways when making arrangements with an Amish neighbor.  “I’ll meet you at 5:00 fast time” for the non-Amish or “I’ll meet you at 6:00 slow time” for the Amish.  We didn’t really say both times, but deference was usually given to the non-Amish person in the conversation.  Of course, these translations only needed to happen for half of the year.  This might seem to cause a lot of confusion, but it never did.  If so, go with the flow and visit a little longer or come back. 

This memory of my childhood tells me how it’s easy to do your own thing–even something as fundamental as going by your own clock.  The Amish were standing strong in their belief system, and clearly communicating their different perspective in order to facilitate their choice.

We can do the same in our world today.  Having difference of opinion, perspective or values is really okay.  What we need to do is clearly communicate those values to others to help them understand, and be a little flexible.  As a result we can learn to work together even when we are “on totally different clocks”.