By Anna Von Reitz
I know someone who was born in
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. I need to give him a call and rattle his cage today,
just for old times sake, and catch up on the latest groundhog gossip.
If you are going to gossip, let it be
about something harmless and fun.
I am told that one year the groundhog
made an escape and they had to use a stuffed one that kept falling over on
camera. I can believe that. Apparently, anything is possible in Punxsutawney.
Even being born there.
And of course, there is the iconic
Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day, which has become a cult classic, and my
personal favorite --- though I can't quite place it in any genre. It's a
comedy-drama-tragedy-religious parable. If you have never seen "Groundhog
Day"---- consider watching it as a fitting way to celebrate this oddest major
American holiday.
With or without a large bag of
popcorn.
The premise of the movie is that time
gets stuck, and just keeps replaying this one day --- which happens to be
Groundhog Day, over and over and over.... in endless variations.
Our hero, Bill Murray goes through
all the stages of grief as he struggles to accept his odd fate of endlessly
reliving this same day. He mirrors shock, anger, denial, and finally,
acceptance, and from acceptance, rebirth--- and he takes you along for the ride.
He starts out as the typical
up-and-coming media shark, trying to bust someone or something on a wooden
nickel. He's fast with the put-downs and the cynical banter, arrogant,
self-important, grasping, alienated from any higher impulse. It's all about
money and power and ego, ego, ego.
But, as he is forced to stop and
relive Groundhog Day, out of sheer boredom, he starts to notice the rest of the
world around him, and the other people in it. Despite his base beginning, he
starts to care. And he starts to develop his own talents in response to caring.
His journey is the same journey we
are all on. The fundamental change he undergoes as his ego is chiseled away is a
refinement in the Refiner's fire, that we all need to accept--- and when we do,
then miracles happen.
Instead of drifting along like a leaf
on a flood-tide, we discover how much we have to offer, how much we are needed,
what we can choose to be and what we can contribute. Even if, like Bill Murray's
character, we start our journey as mean-spirited, selfish, cynical, largely
useless snobs, we can -- if we pay attention to life's lessons, become a far
better and far happier version of ourselves.
As an old woman on the other side of
the learning curve, it's a Life Review tale. For younger people, it's a glimpse
of what's to come, and how they can turn their own lemons into lemonade, one day
at time. Even if it's the same day.
I usually watch "Groundhog Day" once
a year, yes, on Groundhog Day. This year I'll be away from home, so the
tradition will continue without me.
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