Jerry
is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood
and always has 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 of 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 the 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 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 I 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 the restaurant business...he
left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point
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 relatively 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 ER 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 the choice to live
fully.
Attitude,
after all, is everything.
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Details: Unknown Author |
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