something else wonderful....
FITZGEREL@aol.com (FITZGEREL@aol.com)
Tue, 23 Mar 1999 11:30:00 EST
DANCE LIKE NOBODY'S WATCHING:
Jeff 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 Jeff was because of his attitude. He was a natural
motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jeff 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
Jeff and asked him I don't get it! You can't be a positive person
all of the time. How do you do it? Jeff replied, Each morning I
wake up and say to myself, Jeff, 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,"
protested. "Yes, it is," Jeff 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 Jeff 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 Jeff 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 gun point by three armed robbers. While
trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the
combination. The robber panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jeff was found
relatively
quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jeff was
released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.
I
saw Jeff about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he
was, he said, 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," Jeff 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. Jeff
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 Jeff. 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. Jeff 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.
You have 2 choices now:
1. Save or delete this mail from your mail box, or
2. Forward it to people you care about.
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.