It's Groundhog Day, starring Punxsutawney Phil! While this tradition has roots going back to Europe, perhaps Groundhog Day the movie is more instructive:
(Buy.com) - Frank Capra meets Rod Serling in this high-concept comedy that thoroughly follows through on its premise. As a cynical weatherman, Phil Connors (Bill Murray) finds himself trapped by a blizzard he failed to predict and doomed to repeat the worst day of his life over and over again. At first he is horrified at the prospect of living forever in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, home of the groundhog, but eventually he must discover the key to moving his life forward.
Once again, for the fifth year in a row, TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is forced to cover the Groundhog Day ceremonies in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, an assignment he truly despises. But this year something truly bizarre happens after he finishes the report: When he wakes up the next morning, ready to leave, he discovers it's February 2 all over again. He tries to tell his producer, Rita (Andie MacDowell), what's happening, but neither she nor anyone else understands; only he remembers that they've already lived through Groundhog Day.
When the same thing happens the next morning, he thinks he's going insane and wreaks havoc all through the town. More and more mornings pass, all of them February 2, and all of them with an ever angrier Phil. Desperate to escape, he even tries suicide, but still another February 2 dawns.
As he starts realizing that his exploits are not making time march on any quicker, Phil begins to change his behavior, performing a series of lifesaving tasks until he becomes a model citizen, hoping it will be enough to get him out of Punxsutawney forever. Along the way he learns more about the people around him--and himself--than he ever thought possible.
The moral of the story is as applicable to traders and investors as it is to life itself. All of us can take something from each go-round of the sentiment cycle. Life is short, and hopefully we learn from our mistakes so that we get wiser as we get older.
04.02.02 03:31 #