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 of the time. How
do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each
morning I wake up and say to myself, 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 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 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 the choice to live fully. Attitude, after
all, is everything.
By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz
* * * * * * *
(I do not believe in luck, because I know that
God is the one in charge. I did leave the word
"lucky" in here, as the author wrote. Knowing
that often it is just a word!)
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