Greetings and Happy Midweek!
Did you notice the date today - aside from it being Groundhog Day, here in America?
It’s 2/2/22 - pretty cool, huh? I’m not super into dates and numerology - but some people groups around the world are, and it seems like it’s probably some kind of special day having these numbers aligned - which also, by the way, are the same today whether you put the month first, as in the US - or the day first, as elsewhere in the world.
And as for American Groundhog Day, and its equivalent globally - it centers on eons old traditions of mid-winter celebration, at least beckoning if not welcoming the coming of Spring - and NEW LIFE.
To explore all this for a few minutes, I thought we’d apply some of our Global SKILLs PROACTive strategies - Application, Collaboration, and Transformation.*
For ‘Application’, let’s take the classic American movie - Groundhog Day - and apply its basic premise to cross-cultural communications and community building.** The movie shows us, among other things, that if life could repeat itself indefinitely, some people will eventually learn to ‘get it right’. That certainly applies to learning across cultures, does it not?!
For ‘Collaboration’, I think we can all agree that working together in community is one very effective method in the ‘getting it right’ process…one we do well to pursue as much as possible!
For ‘Transformation’, let’s imagine how repeated attempts at making significant changes in our cultural endeavors - especially with (as in the movie) each one slightly more informed and thus effective - will indeed eventually prove to be transformative!
As I personally take stock this 2/2/22, Groundhog Day, I see my own life moving forward into some very new and exciting opportunities while at the same time circling around to career choices and pursuits deeply rooted in cross-cultural and community building work. And I have to say, that’s pretty Special!
How about for you - what is a Groundhog Day insight from your own cross-cultural pursuits?
Share that here or with a friend…and check out the Global SKILLs LINKs below for some fun Groundhog Day celebration resources.
Thanks for being part of this Connect community.
Until next week,
Betsy
* PROACTive Learning Strategies: PRO = PROfile, PROcess, PROgram
ACT = Application, Collaboration and Transformation (all 3 of which we looked at today)
~ contact me for more information on these strategies and how you might use them in your current programming
** for folks not familiar with the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” or the American cultural traditions around Punxsutawney Phil, the “most famous” Groundhog - check out these links:
Here’s a slightly different perspective from mine, on the movie’s enduring message https://www.eonline.com/news/736090/it-s-just-like-groundhog-day-or-is-it-thanks-to-the-bill-murray-classic-people-have-never-stopped-saying-that
And since we’re still in pandemic mode 2 years later, here is an early 2020 pandemic perspective on “Groundhog Day” which still resonates today: https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/groundhog-day/groundhog-day-best-quarantine-movies/
Global SKILLs LINKs
~ China has a wonderful weather forecasting celebration - based not on groundhogs but on “Excited Insects”: https://www.hkfastfacts.com/Chinese-culture/Chinese-groundhog-day
~ from the Celts to the Romans, ancient peoples lay claim to the origins of Groundhog Day/mid-Winter celebrations…here are a few examples in this “true story” about the day: https://inhabitat.com/the-true-story-behind-groundhog-day/
2022 ~ Celebrating 40+ years of working in
intercultural communications and global community building
“It takes a community to build a community”