Do you remember this movie with Bill Murray? A movie in which a newscaster that has been sent to a small town to film a famous groundhog coming out of his hole to see his shadow. He discovers that every morning when he waked up he has to repeat the exact same day all over again. He is cursed (or perhaps blessed) to repeat the day over and over again until he is able to have the perfect day. Once he learns this lesson, he is allowed to go onto the next day.
The screenwriter for this film had this thought: “If a person could live forever, if a person was immortal, how would they change over time?” Danny Rubin had a difficult time selling this script, he peddled it all over the place when eventually he got a producer to help him get it filmed. I now think this film is more then just a classic. The film is a part of our culture and a concept that we can now reference and generally people will understand what you are talking about.
The film has a subtext of what the perfect day really is. You and the main character begin to understand that the perfect day is one of of selflessness, looking to help everyone around you, seeking to understand the concerns, problems, and pains of the people you can influence. You also are a person that seeks to improve yourself, contributing to society in a significant way and creating beautiful things. You also learn to express and feel love by those that mean the most to you.
I am aware that this Groundhog Day concept is really the 365 Commitment in disguise. I do not have the power to repeat everyday until I get that day right, but I do have the power to wake up each day and try to get it right again. I can make gradual improvements each day, until I get better at making each day count. Bill Murray’s character has many failures during the movie, most of them morbidly funny. The point is that he fails, repeats, fails repeats. This is indeed the spirit of the 365 Commitment. Try – Fail. Try – Fail. Try – Success.
Guy Reams (183)
365 Member
