An arrogant TV newsman is sent to a small town to cover the antics of Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who helps to determine whether there will be six more weeks of winter or an early spring. If ever we, as recovering addicts, have considered it to be arduous to live life a day at a time, watching the story of the newsman should cause us to count our blessings. (A warning: if you have not seen the movie and want to, you may prefer to skip the rest of this page.) For he ends up living, not merely one day at a time, but the same day -- over and over again until he gets it right.

At first, of course, he is horrified by his predicament, and his main concern is to stop this incessant business of living the identical day with its identical events over and over again. Then he starts to get angry, and takes his anger out on the local citizens. Then despair and indifference appear. He even kills himself. But nothing he does makes any difference -- every morning he awakens again in the same bed at the same time, with the same alarm radio playing the same Sonny and Cher song ....

Until he accidentally finds the answer. If he's living the same day over and over again, he reasons, his life is clearly not about him. So he might just as well use it to help relieve the sufferings of others. And as he finally accepts this way of life, he is released again into a life of his own.

It doesn't require the critical, analytical skills of a genius to see the lesson in this movie for the practice of Steps 10, 11 and 12. But Bill Murray's masterly portrayal also emphasizes the importance of the Fifth Tradition. If the prime purpose of our membership of our 12-Step groups is not carrying the message of recovery -- spiritual recovery -- then our daily inventory and our meditation count for nothing.