Jerry
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 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: Icould
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.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.
Send by Don Cornforth dcorn4@ibm.net