Possibly a True Story
Found by Chris Hollomon
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 asks him how
he's doing, he replies, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" I know
he's a unique manager because he has several waiters who follow him around from
restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters follow Jerry is because of
his attitude. He is a natural motivator. If an employee is having a bad
day, Jerry's 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 thetime.
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 a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was
held up at gunpoint 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 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
mindas 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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