Two Choices

My younger brother sent me this, I rarely read forwarded mail but this is really something I feel we overlook at times. Simple and yet meaningful. Overall, I had a great weekend breakaway with Aaris & Nicole in Melaka but end up with minor glitches on family matters. Hope things will be ok soon. Check out the content of the story below;

Jerry is the manager of a restaurant. He is always in a good mood.

When someone would ask how he was doing, he always would reply,

"If I were any better, I would be twins!"

Many of the waiters at his restaurant quit their jobs when he changed jobs,

so they can follow him around from restaurant to restaurant.

Why?

Because Jerry was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was always 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! No one can be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in bad mood. I always choose to be in good mood.

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim or I can choose to learn from it. I always 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 always choose the positive side of life."

"But it's not always that easy," I protested.

"Yes it is," Jerry said.

"Life is about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.

You can choose how to react to situations.

You can choose how people will affect your mood.

You can choose to be in good mood or bad mood.

It's your choice how you live your life."

Several years later,

I heard that Jerry accidentally did something that you are never supposed to do in restaurant business.

He left the backdoor of his restaurant open.

And then???

In the morning, he was robbed by three armed men.

While Jerry trying to open the safe box, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination.

The robbers panicked and shot him.

Luckily Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the hospital.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intesive 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. Want to 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 backdoor," Jerry replied.

"Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered I had two choices: I could choose to live or could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared?" 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 expression 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 need to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big 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, "Please operate 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 you have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it.

The only thing that is truly yours - that no one can control or take from you - is your ATTITUDE, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.

Amazing story, simple yet meaningful. My life - my choice. I chose to be happy.