I found myself at a loss as to what to write last Wednesday regarding World Water Day. Not that I couldn't have done so, but I didn't simply want to restate what my colleagues at other companies, relief organizations, governments, etc. already wrote. That following weekend, I rewatched the move Groundhog Day, which drew (odd) comparisons to World Water Day. Bear with me....
Groundhog Day is a 30 year-old comedy movie starring Bill Murray about a cynical reporter that becomes trapped in a 24-hour time loop during his visit to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania while he is covering the (actual) holiday of 'Groundhog Day,' which is when locals of that area pull a groundhog called 'Punxsutawney Phil' out of his den to see if he sees his shadow or not, of which the former outcome indicates that there will be a longer winter. Each day, Murray's character awakens to see he is in the same hotel and events from the day before, despite his attempts to escape. Hilarity ensues in-between Murray's repeated days where he takes advantage of his time to learn French, learn piano, etc. Only after he begins to become altruistic does he break out of his time loop into the next day.
I draw this seemingly ridiculous comparison to World Water Day because each year it seems as if the world is experiencing the same exact thing over an over again, yet we haven't quite how to break out of it. Some years there is more focus on the inequality of access to sanitary water, and other years have extra thought regarding new technologies, and so on. Yet, every year, it's as if we're back in the same spot as before. This is not a criticism of my colleagues in tech, but rather, it's an inescapable observation about the fact that humanity (regardless) finds itself stuck in circles.
The goal of Graytec and its colleague companies is that we can break this seemingly unshakeable loop we're in to better deploy solutions within buildings, agriculture, infrastructure, etc. Because, unlike this movie that I absolutely recommend you watch...our shortcomings don't reset at the end of each day.
- Luke Jackson
