In a place called Punxsutawney Pennsylvania, at a glorified bed and breakfast, the alarm clock was blasting to the sound of Sonny and Cher. The duos biggest hit “I’ve got you Babe” is obnoxious enough, but at sun rise it is a perfect song to force you to jump out of a warm bed and shut off the radio. We’ve all seen the movie. Bill Murray (Phil Connors) plays a television weatherman who is sent to Punxsutawney every Feb. 2 to see , or not see, Punxsutawney Phil’s ( the groundhog) shadow, and get an indication of how many more weeks of winter can be expected. After delivering his report on the groundhog a big snow storm arrives forcing Phil C. and his crew to stay another night in Punxsutawney. It is not long before we figure out that tomorrow, only for Phil, is going to be the exact same as yesterday . This is the main plot of the movie Groundhog’s Day and the title has become synonymous for people describing their personal day to day redundancy as living life in a form of “ Groundhog’s Day. For me , at first look, this movie was a sophomoric comedy that gave me a good laugh. As the years have moved on my perspective of the movie has made a dramatic change. I realized this is not some silly movie about living the same day over and over again. It is about human growth, evolution of an individual, introspection, discovery, and personal betterment. But mostly it is a love story. It is about what it takes to earn real love and trust.
The concept of the movie Groundhog’s has a wide spectrum of thought provoking underlying themes. What if you could live today over? What if you could start your life over again retaining the knowledge
and experience you have accrued. We all have fantasized about returning to our youth having the wisdom we gained in the autumn of our years. The movie Groundhog’s Day suggests one do-over isn’t enough. It is not until the fourth or fifth February 2nd that Phil decides he wants to transform himself and try to get all the details right. He had always been an arrogant selfish bastard, unmotivated to facilitate change. Slowly, Phil learns to be a good listener, he has an opportunity to morph into a better self while those around him stand still. He becomes a better person, not a different person. The question is: When we find ourselves stuck in Groundhog’s Day why do we wait so long to escape it. After all, aren’t we ones who can decide any day, any moment, that we want to make changes that move us towards tomorrow. It appears to me most people are comfortable with their redundant lives, tomorrow of course is the unknown and is a scary proposition.
The voice on the other end of the phone I had not heard since 1988. He had been a student of mine in my early days as an educator. He is the middle child surrounded by two brothers, the product of parents who split up when he and his siblings were very young. As we caught up it was evident that the scars still had not healed. “I never wanted my kids to feel the way I did when I was a little boy. My Dad is not a bad man but he was a bad father.” His voice was coming all the way from a small steel town near Pittsburgh Pa.. For two people who only know each other from years gone by the conversation was surprisingly powerful and insightful . My old student had ended up in the abyss of the friendly state because his wife’s family lived there and his wife took a job in the food service industry back in her home town soon after they were married. Twenty five years later he is still there. There are three children and a business that he started which now supports many members of his and his wife’s families. “ I actually hate it here, but will not even think about leaving for another three years until my youngest graduates from high school. I constantly feel like it’s groundhog’s day , but that is the sacrifice I made to ensure I keep my family together. The person on the other end of the phone had me hysterically laughing and crying during the course of our exchange. He was an amazing contradiction, reserved yet open, serious minded but a tremendous sense of humor, stuck in time but somehow evolved, coy in a highly intelligent manner, highly practical but deep down a sentimental dreamer.
It seems flying low under the radar he has learned much about himself after repeating 1000’s of Groundhog Days. In a few years I hope to catch up to him again. Based on our only conversation I predict he will have moved on to February 3rd.
If ever there was a man who lived each day without taking a chance, especially when it came to family it was my friend Max. Married for 20 years , having a eight year old son, possessing a great career , Max, his child and wife ,on the surface presented the perfect family. Underneath Max was exhausted of the mundane, of the repetitiveness of living everyday on the same schedule, of pulling his car into his driveway daily at 5:30. Some like the slow and steady fire, the Ferris wheel, being the company man, the family man. Others like chaos, the rollercoaster , they enjoy the part of the rebel, questioning and challenging every decision made around them. These troubled souls can’t sit still , they are uneasy with the grind of daily life. Still, very few of these mavericks find the courage to disrupt the applecart we call family and marriage. Depending how you look at it, they either stay courageously put , or they are even more courageous and risk hurting all they hold dearest to their hearts for their own happiness. No one would ever argue Max has been a great husband, is a strong father , and has lived his life with his family as his top priority. Max did not wait for the timing to be right to follow his heart. My friends, who are close with Max, are in shock that he actually turned the page. In Max’s mind he needed to live the rest of his life on a different day . Does it make him less of a father? Does it make him an incomplete family man . I truly do wonder.
I was 29 when I left the field of education. I have not awoke to the ringing of an alarm clock nor responded to sound of a bell in the last 28 years. As a teacher and a coach I found my life to be one dimensional, routine, predictable , and controlled. I was living in my own Groundhog’s Day listening to my peers talk about how many more years they had to retirement. I was already, jaded, stale, sarcastic, and worst of all, unmotivated. Towards the end of my teaching career I kept telling myself I had to get out of this rut. For eight years I watched the kids cycle through. I was fully aware that the students kept moving on and I kept standing still. My nightmares saw into the future and consisted of me giving the same history lecture to children whose parent s had heard it 25 years ago. If I didn’t care anymore, how could my charges possibly learn anything from me beyond cynicism ? The wheel of time was spinning in the same direction year after year and would continue to do so unless I decided to jump. The move meant I was giving up health benefits , a solid retirement package , a weekly paycheck . Metaphorically, I was leaving stability, credibility, and a career which defined who I was at the time. I threw away my career path to re-invent myself and start over. Now I was chasing a new life, searching for a new identity , a complete overhaul of my future plans. What I couldn’t get through to anyone at the time was that I was stuck and I needed desperately to do something about it. I wanted to do something about it. I needed to find a new direction as well as financial independence. Something inside me was saying “move on” and set yourself free.
Isn’t it ironic that even when we know things are not working we still repeat the same action over and over. My golfing buddy hooks every drive, yet stays on the practice tee all day replicating that same bad swing. He toils and sweats yet the results never change. He has just perfected “the hook.” Phil Connors finally realizes that if he wants a different outcome in his life he must commit to change. His journey embodies a view of human growth the natural maturation process that so many of us make a conscious effort to avoid. Groundhog’s Day is a comedy, a parody, a drama, and a love story. The bastard weatherman who wakes up on the original Groundhog’s Day is in love with his producer Andie MacDowell (Anita) but is incapable of even liking himself. But as the same day keeps duplicating itself, Phil learns to see himself for the first time. He also sees and hears Rita, and understands that he loves her. He becomes determined to be a man who deserves her love. The cynical, arrogant, miserable Phil wants to become a good person. Through a cycle of approximately 40 days Phil gets it right. In the end Sony Bono’s voice is blasting as the alarm clock turns to 6:00 pm. This time Phil is not alone, someone reaches across the bed to snuggle, it is Rita. She had been there all along, he only needed to change himself to see her.
