This text was not written by me. I received it in a class I attended. I like the message very much and I can honestly say that that's a great way to live and we can and shoud all learn from Jerry! ;)
The text is originally in french, so if anything was lost in translation, let me know! ;)
Good Mood
Jerry is a manager in the restoration in Philadelphia. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When he is asked how it goes, he always answers: "If I were better than that,we would be two: my twin and me!"
When he moves, several waiters and waitresses are ready to quit their job to follow him to another restaurant for the only reason that they admire his attitude. He is a natural motivator. When an employee spins a bad cotton, Jerry is always there to show to him the good side of the things.
Curious, I went to see Jerry one day to ask him: "I do not understand. It is not possible to be always positive like that, everywhere, all the time. How do you do it?" And Jerry to answer:"Every morning when when I wake, I think that, today, I can either chose to be in a good mood or chose to be in a bad mood. I always decide to be in a good mood.
When deplorable incident occurs I can chose to be a victim or I can choose to learn a lesson from it. When somebody comes to complain with me, I can choose to hear his complaint, or, I can try to show to him the good side of the thing."
"But it is not always so easy", I told him. And Jerry to reply: "Life, it is a question of choice. One chooses his way of reacting to the situations. One chooses how the others can influence him or not. One chooses to be in a good mood or bad mood. One chooses to live his life in the manner which is suitable to them."
Several years later, I heard that Jerry incidentally did what one should never do in restoration: he left unlocked the restaurant̢۪s back door a morning and was surprised by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, trembling of nervousness, he did not manage to make the numerical combination. One of the intruder panicked and shot him. Fortunately for Jerry, he was quickly transported to the hospital.
After eighteen hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released of the hospital with remains of bullets which had not successfully been withdrawed of his body.
I say Jerry again, six months after the incident and I asked him how he reacted to it all. "If I were better than that, he said, we would be two: my twin and me. You want to see the scars?"
I did not want to see the wound, but I asked him what had gone through his mind at the time of the robbery. And Jerry said: "The first thing that crossed my mind was that I should have closed the back door of the restaurant with a key. And then, lying on the floor after being shot, I remembered that I could still make a choice either to live or to die. And I chose to live."
"Weren't you afraid?" I asked.
And he answered : "The ambulance men were quite correct. They did not cease saying to me that all was well. But while entering the operating room at the hospital, I saw the expression of the doctors and nurses and, then, I was afraid. I saw in their eyes that I was a dead man and I knew I had to act quickly."
"And then, what did you do?" "Well, my friend, there was a large nurse who bombarded me questions; she wanted to know if I were allergic to something. I said yes, and the doctors and the nurses stopped to hear what I was going to say. I took a deep breath and I said to them that I was allergic to gun̢۪s bullets! When they stopped laughing, I said to them that I had made the choice to live and that they would make better operate me as if I were a living man rather than a dead one!"
Jerry survived thanks to the expertise of the doctors but also thanks to his astonishing attitude! I learned from him that, everyday, we must make choices: to benefit fully from the life or to be bored from it as long as we like. The only thing which belongs to us and which nobody can control, nor take away, are our attitudes. Then, when one can cultivate positive attitudes, all that remains is the small stuff.
Now, it is up to us to choose!
Sunday, March 13, 2005
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