From zink@ses.com Mon Jun 9 09:15:51 1997 Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 11:12:23 -0500 (CDT) From: Ken Zink To: lclstaff@ses.com Cc: "Sandra Zink (LANL)" , Angela Zink , "Richard Birke (Willamette Univ.)" , The Talbots , Allen Moody , Szifra Birke , Larry Study , "Cathy Rearick (UT)" Subject: Misc: Have a Positive Attitude > ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING.........By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz > >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 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.