By Anna Von Reitz
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.
about something harmless and fun.
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.
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.
popcorn.
gets stuck, and just keeps replaying this one day --- which happens to be
Groundhog Day, over and over and over.... in endless variations.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
a year, yes, on Groundhog Day. This year I'll be away from home, so the
tradition will continue without me.