Start your day tomorrow...

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,

"lf l 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 thereafier, I lefl 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 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 deadman.‘ 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.