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Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always had something positive to say. He was a unique manager because he had several employee who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. 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. I was curious, so one day I asked him, "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 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. 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. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left 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 had left the back door open and was robbedat gunpoint 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 local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. I asked him how he was and what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. He replied. "As I lay on the floor, I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. "Weren’t you scared?" Jerry continued, "The paramedics 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 breathe 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. — Brian Cavanaugh
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