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? 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 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.
杰里真是個讓人喜歡得不行的家伙。他總是心情愉快、情緒高漲，總能說出積極的話來。每當別人問他一切可好時，他就回答：“好得不能再好了!”
他是個與眾不同的經理，有好幾個服務員都跟著他在不同的餐廳做過。他們跟著杰里是因為他的生活態度。他天生善于激勵人，如果哪個雇員不走運了，杰里就會告訴他要往好的一面看。
我對他的生活態度深感好奇，于是有一天我走到杰里跟前問他：“我不明白!你不可能事事都順心，你是怎樣做到一直都這么積極樂觀的呢?”
杰里回答說：“每天早上醒來后我對自己說，‘杰里，今天你有兩個選擇。你可以選擇一個好心情，也可以選擇一個壞心情。’我選擇了好心情;每次有壞事發生時，我可以選擇成為受害者,也可以選擇從中及吸取教訓，我選擇了從中吸取教訓;每當有人向我抱怨時，我可以選擇聽他們抱怨，或者給他們指出生活中積極的一面，我選擇了指出生活中積極的一面。”
“對，話是沒錯，可是做起來可不容易。”我說。
杰里說：“其實也容易，生活就是由很多選擇組成的，出去那些不值一提的事情，那么生活中的每件事都是個選擇。你可以選擇如何回應這些事件。你可以選擇周圍人影響你心情的方式。你可以選擇有個好心情或是壞心情。重點是：你可以選擇如何來過你的生活。”
我仔細地考慮著杰里的話。不久后，我離開餐廳業去追求個人發展。我們失去了聯系，但每當我對生活做抉擇而非被動接受生活時，我就會想起杰里。
幾年之后，我聽說杰里犯了個在餐飲業不該犯的錯誤：一天早晨，他沒關后門，三個持槍匪徒走進來，拿槍指著他。當他們試圖打開保險箱時，他由于緊張，手從保險鎖上滑下來。匪徒緊張之下開槍打穿了他的手，接著又有三枚子彈正中他的腹部。
幸運的是，杰里很快就被人發現了，他們很快將他送到了當地的傷療中心。經過18小時的手術和幾星期的悉心護理，他終于出院了，體內還殘留著子彈的碎片。
那件事之后六個月后我見到了杰里。我問他身體怎樣了，他答道：“好極了!想不想看看我的傷疤?”我沒看他的傷疤，但我問他在搶劫案發生的時候，他腦子里在想些什么。
杰里回答說：“我首先想的是我要是把后門鎖上就好了，但是躺在地板上的時候，我想到自己有兩個選擇：我可以選擇生，或選擇死。我選擇了生。”
“你難道一點也不怕嗎?你失去知覺了嗎?”我問。
杰里繼續說：“醫生們很好，他們不斷地告訴我我會好起來的。但他們推我進急救室時，我看到醫生和護士臉上的表情，我覺得很害怕。他們臉上寫著‘這個人要死了。’我知道我該采取些行動了。”
“你做了什么?”我問。
“當時有個牛高馬大的護士朝我喊：‘杰里,你對什么東西過敏嗎?’‘有，’我喊回去。‘是什么?’她問。醫生和護士們都停下來等我回答。我深深吸了口氣，喊道：‘子彈：’”
“他們全笑起來，接著我對他們說：‘瞧,我選擇要活下來。給我動手術，把我當成個活人而不是死人來醫治。’”
杰里活了下來，部分原因是醫生的醫術高明，但更主要是因為他那不屈不撓的態度。
畢竟，態度能決定一切。
