Steve Frey
If you have ever considered the meaning of life, this column is for you! You’re not only going to discover one possibility, but you’re going to explore it through the lens of the movie, “Groundhog Day,” starring Bill Murray.
WAIT! Don’t throw down the paper or surf back to Facebook—give me a chance to explain.
Right off, though, you need to know I hate….ahem….mom always said you shouldn’t say you hate anything, so,… I have a strong disdain for groundhogs!
I don’t know if there are a lot of groundhogs in other parts of the New River Valley, but we’ve got more than our share in West Radford!
They love to devour flower gardens, and they sometimes make these huge burrows in the yard.
As if that were not annoying enough, if you scare them off, they’ll run for a while and then stop, turn around and I’d swear, grin at you before diving into their holes.
If you ever saw me filling in their burrows, it would probably remind you of another Bill Murray character, the golf course groundskeeper in “Caddyshack.”
Yes, I also mumble things about those “varmints” under my breath as I shovel dirt and rocks into their home. I’ll leave it at that.
Back to Groundhog Day.
The big day happens to be this Friday, Feb. 2. I never thought much about it until I became an elementary school principal. Yeah, I vaguely knew there was a Groundhog Day, and some little town in Pennsylvania had a big celebration each year, and if that scheming groundhog saw its shadow, it meant something about spring coming sooner or later.
An elementary school, however, is filled with primary teachers who love to take every opportunity to make a connection between a holiday and a school experience so that both are a little more memorable for their children.
You may have seen the pumpkins with poems on the bulletin boards in October and the Thanksgiving feast necklaces with colored noodles in patterns. I’ve even had children point out leprechaun glitter tracks to a first grade classroom bathroom with the toilet containing green-tinted water on St. Patrick’s Day morning. I’ll let you fill in the blanks.
As with these other holidays, you would be amazed at the creative lessons that can be planned for Groundhog Day!
There are Groundhog Day books to read; writing prompts; songs to be sung; science connections with seasons, weather, temperature, solar studies and more; engineering connections by creating the strongest possible groundhog homes; math connections counting weeks and days, addition, and subtraction or using technology to discover the history and traditions of the holiday.
Hey, those teachers were doing science, technology, engineering, arts and math interdisciplinary STEAM lessons before the acronym was invented!
But where did all this elementary school excitement and the Groundhog Day movie originate? Well, it goes back to the glory of Rome.
Evidently, Roman legions brought the tradition to German tribes during their conquest of the northern territories based on a holiday called Candlemas, which included predicting an earlier or later spring. The Germans kept the tradition, and descendants in Pennsylvania used the groundhog as the weather prognosticator.
According to the Pennsylvania state tourist site: “Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers were Germans and they found groundhogs to be in profusion in many parts of the state. They determined that the groundhog, resembling the European hedgehog, was a most intelligent and sensible animal and therefore decided that if the sun did appear on Feb. 2, so wise an animal as the groundhog would see its shadow and hurry back into its underground home for another six weeks of winter.”
If the day happened to be cloudy and the groundhog didn’t see its shadow, spring would come early.
That brings us back to Bill Murray and his character, Phil Connors, in Groundhog Day, and that interpretation of the meaning of life. Phil Connors is a weatherman who finds he is stuck in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the world’s epicenter for Groundhog Day celebrations.
He keeps waking up on Groundhog Day and reliving it over, and over, and over, again. He is an egotistical, self-centered, manipulative guy with very few redeeming qualities.
After many repeated Groundhog Days, he becomes depressed and even suicidal.
One evening he discovers a homeless man dying. He can’t save him, no matter what he tries to do. After this happens several times, he seems to realize there is always an end to this man’s life, and he can do nothing to stop it. Death is inevitable.
That’s when a change takes place. There is no dramatic “awakening” moment on screen, but Phil begins to help others. He realizes that life is full of suffering and that he can best use his time to do something to help other people and make their lives a little bit happier. That gives his life purpose, even in this Twilight Zone of repeated Groundhog Days.
In subsequent scenes, he’s seen changing an elderly woman’s flat tire, catching a boy falling out of a tree and saving the mayor from choking on his dinner, to name just a few selfless acts.
He devotes time to improving himself by learning to play the piano and reading great literature. He even finds that the female producer he unsuccessfully romantically pursued earlier falls in love with the “new” person he has become.
Eventually, probably because he has learned some important life lessons, he awakens and it is Feb. 3, the day after Groundhog Day. He has a new lease on life.
So what is the meaning of life from this movie’s perspective? Perhaps it’s saying this: there are hard times and suffering in everyone’s life, but if people devote themselves to kindness and compassion; if they try to help others and live a life of service; if they put the needs of others ahead of their own; they can make life a little better for everyone, including themselves.
Some say that the meaning of life is simply to love one another. What better way to express that love than to try to alleviate the suffering and hardships of others.
You probably have your own philosophy about the meaning of your life, and, of course, each person has to discover that meaning for themselves.
The next time you watch Groundhog Day, however, you might want to consider the theme from that movie. It is very similar to Mahatma Gandhi’s observation: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Of course, there are always opportunities to help and support others in your everyday activities.
There are also many charitable or service organizations that are looking for extra help in the New River Valley right now. This newspaper often lists them or reports on their activities.
John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
It sounds like he found his purpose.
Bill Murray’s reborn character in “Groundhog Day,” Phil Connors, would agree.
Steve Frey is a writer and CEO of Ascendant Educational Services based in Radford.
