Today is Groundhog Day. Yes, it’s a silly holiday and there are some people who think we should just take it off the calendar. But why? We all know that it has no scientific validity. It’s just something inane to help break up the dead of winter for us here in America’s snowbelt, as well as an excuse for some people to party. Besides, if we didn’t have Groundhog Day, we wouldn’t have had the movie (yeah, I know that any day would have sufficed for the movie, but work with me here).
Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies. I must have watched that thing a dozen times. If you haven’t seen the movie by now (and how the hell could you have not seen it by now?), here’s the spoiler:
A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, television weather man – Phil Connors – is sent to Punxsutawney (also in Pennsylvania), along with his producer and cameraman, to cover the Groundhog Day celebration there, it being one of the more “official” celebrations of the day. Phil is a rather arrogant, perhaps even nihilistic, person who has absolutely no desire to cover such a stupid event.
After he does his story on Groundhog Day they attempt to return to Pittsburgh, only to find the roads are closed due to a freak snowstorm. They are forced to return to Punxsutawney and stay the night. The next morning, the clock radio comes on in Phil’s room announcing that it is Groundhog Day, at which Phil scoffs, until he finds that, indeed, it is once again Groundhog Day. To shorten the story considerably, Phil finds himself stuck in a time loop, living the same day over and over again, and he is the only variable in the day; all other people do the same thing day after day except for where they interact with Phil.
For a good part of the movie Phil struggles against his fate, killing himself many times, manipulating people around him to achieve his ends, doing pretty much whatever he wants within the limits of Punxsutawney, with each new morning bringing another repeat of the day with Phil being no worse the wear for the previous day. Eventually, Phil starts to reexamine his life and makes changes. Then one day he appears to finally put it all together. Having become a decent, functioning human being, he is released from his time prison to go on and live as a changed man.
Yeah, that took a bit of telling, but I don’t think I can shorten it any. While the movie is cute and potentially thought-provoking (some might say that it is just an old fashioned morality play), the thing that tweaks my imagination is what I would do if I were in the same situation.
So I set it up in my mind as it appears in the movie – day after day, each day is much the same as the day before. You personally have the option to change your behavior while all around you pretty much follow their own daily routines. As I was thinking about this, it suddenly occurred to me that this is my life. Holy Smokes! The only thing missing is that I am getting a day older each day, while Phil did not.
Ah, but there is what fascinates me. What if we had all the time in the world to do whatever we wanted to do? Think of all the learning and experience you could gain? The way the movie is set up, the only thing that transfers from one day to the next is Phil’s memory of the previous days. This is his blessing! He cannot retain a single physical item that he didn’t have when the whole thing started, but he can learn and retain that learning. In the end, that is his salvation, and it is something that I kind of envy.
On the other hand, we have to deal with reality. No one is going to stop the clock for us. We get older every day, as does everyone around us. And as in the movie where Phil could not change everything that happened around him every day, neither can we. Nor can we really count on retaining the “things” we have. All we really ever have is what is in our heads! So why do we waste our time on acquiring things and not learning and experiencing to the fullest of our ability?
Damn good question, eh? Maybe that’s something for us all to keep in mind tomorrow morning when we wake up. We have been given one more day on this earth. Are we going to waste it, or use it to grow? Sometimes I think I should watch this movie every week to be reminded how lucky I am to be alive and how I am squandering the greatest resource any of us has – time.