Jerry is the manager of a restaurant in America. 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 always reply, "If I were
any better, I would be twins!" Many of the waiters at his
restaurant quit their jobs when he changed jobs, so they could
follow 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 always 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! No one can be a positive
person all of the time. How do you do it?"
Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have
two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can
choose to be in a bad mood. I always 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 always choose to learn from it.
Everytime someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept
their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I
always choose the positive side of life."
"But it's not always 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. It's your choice how
you live your life."
Several years later, I heard that Jerry accidentally did something
you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business: left the
back door of his restaurant open one morning and was robbed by
three armed men.
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 hospital. 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. Want
to 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, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I
remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or choose
to die. I chose to live."
"Weren't you scared?" 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 need to take
action."
"What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big 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. Please
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 you have
the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it.
The only thing that is truly yours that no one can control or take
from you is your attitude, so if you can take care of that,
everything else in life becomes much easier.
