Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in
a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone
would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any
better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had
several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to
restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of
his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was
having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look
on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up
to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive
person all the time. How do you do it?"
Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself,
'Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good
mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a
good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a
victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from
it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to
accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of
life. I choose to positive side of life."
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy", I protested.
"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When
you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose
how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect
your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or a bad mood. The
bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter I left the
restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but
often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of
reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are
never supposed to do in a restaurant business: He left the back
door open one morning and was held up at gunpont by three armed
robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from
nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and
shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found rather quickly and rushed to
the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of
intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments
of the bullets still in his body.
I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked
him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins.
Wanna see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone
through his mind as the robbery took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was that I should
have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the
floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to
live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live"
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept
telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into
the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the
doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read,
'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me,"
said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes', I
replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited
for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets! Over
their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me
as if I am alive, not dead."
Jerry lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also
because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day
we have a choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is
everything.
You have 2 choices now:
1. Delete this mail from your mail box.
2. Forward it to your dear ones and choose.