{"id":893,"date":"2010-02-02T16:22:22","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T21:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/hungerrumblings\/?p=893"},"modified":"2010-02-02T16:22:22","modified_gmt":"2010-02-02T21:22:22","slug":"happy-groundhog-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/happy-groundhog-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Groundhog Day!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=123251638\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2010\/02\/groundhog.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-894 alignleft\" style=\"margin: 10px\" title=\"groundhog\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/hungerrumblings\/2010\/02\/groundhog-222x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2010\/02\/groundhog-222x300.jpg 222w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2010\/02\/groundhog-250x338.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2010\/02\/groundhog-259x350.jpg 259w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2010\/02\/groundhog.jpg 440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>As I was pondering this week&#8217;s post I got excited thinking about the fact that today was Groundhog Day (I&#8217;m not so excited that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.groundhog.org\/\">Mr. P. Phil<\/a> saw his shadow, though&#8230;). \u00a0I was excited to talk about the clich\u00e9d definition of insanity&#8211;doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. \u00a0As I gleefully plotted the post I realized that Groundhog Day historically had nothing to do with doing the same thing over and over. \u00a0This idea was introduced in a 1993 film starring Bill Murray, with the apt, though perhaps uncreative, title, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Groundhog_Day_(film)\">Groundhog Day<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0I marveled at the notion that my precognitive connection, my free association, was something entirely unrelated to the original understanding of the day. \u00a0Even more amazing, my first understanding of Groundhog Day (having to do with the length of winter) was something that had been learned then supplanted. \u00a0And I&#8217;m not alone with this shift in thinking.<\/p>\n<p>So what does this have to do with hunger? \u00a0A lot, I think. \u00a0For one, much has been made by folks like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/01\/17\/opinion\/17kristof.html\">Nick Kristof<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelifeyoucansave.com\/\">Peter Singer<\/a> about the intuitive joy we feel when we help someone (a good thing!), especially when our help (e.g., filling a bag of food or serving someone a meal) or the person (e.g., sponsoring a child or giving to a specific project) is\u00a0tangible and the need is immediate. \u00a0While this probably has some evolutionary benefits&#8211;human beings <em>are<\/em> social creatures after all&#8211;attending only to immediate needs does not help us in the long term goal of eliminating hunger and poverty. \u00a0It could even be detrimental. \u00a0Take, for example, the situation in Haiti. \u00a0As noted in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/~\/media\/Files\/Disaster%20Response\/Haiti_Earthquake_SitRep_2_012910.pdf\">ELCA Disaster Response report<\/a> on Haiti, &#8220;With the huge influx of humanitarian aid coming into the country, a negative impact is being\u00a0realized by business owners.&#8221; \u00a0The report goes on to explain some of the complexities of the situation, but the point is still the same. \u00a0(To be clear, both immediate relief and long term development are needed, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/Our-Faith-In-Action\/Responding-to-the-World\/ELCA-World-Hunger\/Our-Work\/Relief-and-Development.aspx\">both<\/a> are integral to ELCA World Hunger&#8217;s approach to dealing with hunger and poverty, domestically and internationally.) \u00a0In short, maybe our first impulse, our precognitive response, needs to be tempered. \u00a0That intuitive joy we may feel by doing something tangible and immediate is good, but maybe we need to also find joy in the long term, and perhaps less glamorous, work of working with and on behalf of those who are vulnerable.<\/p>\n<p>-David Creech<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I was pondering this week&#8217;s post I got excited thinking about the fact that today was Groundhog Day (I&#8217;m not so excited that Mr. P. Phil saw his shadow, though&#8230;). \u00a0I was excited to talk about the clich\u00e9d definition of insanity&#8211;doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. \u00a0As I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Happy Groundhog Day! - ELCA World Hunger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/happy-groundhog-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy Groundhog Day! - ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As I was pondering this week&#8217;s post I got excited thinking about the fact that today was Groundhog Day (I&#8217;m not so excited that Mr. P. Phil saw his shadow, though&#8230;). \u00a0I was excited to talk about the clich\u00e9d definition of insanity&#8211;doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. \u00a0As I [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/happy-groundhog-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-02T21:22:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2010\/02\/groundhog.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"594\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Creech\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Creech\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/happy-groundhog-day\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/happy-groundhog-day\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Creech\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1842ba255171d4cd4bf6b88cfa2bc43b\"},\"headline\":\"Happy Groundhog Day!\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-02T21:22:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/happy-groundhog-day\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":418,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/happy-groundhog-day\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/52\\\/hungerrumblings\\\/2010\\\/02\\\/groundhog-222x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/happy-groundhog-day\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/happy-groundhog-day\\\/\",\"name\":\"Happy Groundhog Day! 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