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, 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 cutaway all
the junk in 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 to live life." I reflected on what Jerry said.

Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business.
We lost touch but 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.