THE NIGHTTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME
BY: BY AGNIESZKA BISKUP
After all this time, people are still debating nature vs. nurture – whether humans are blank slates, shaped by their external environments, or whether they’re completely determined by their genes. A complex question, and one I’m not particularly interested in. I’m more than happy to ascribe my flaws to my mother (either my genes or my upbringing) and my few good character traits to, well, to me and to my great strength of character.
One of these so-called flaws is to be a night person, night owl, slugabed, call it what you will. But I’m tired of the moral dimension given this trait. I blame the hostility toward my lifestyle to the ubiquity of proverbs like “The early bird catches the worm,” and Ben Franklin’s annoying “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Bad things happen to those who sleep by day: Just look at Little Boy Blue asleep in the hay with the cow getting in the corn and all. And let’s not forget Dracula and the other children of the night – not exactly positive images for the morning-challenged.