I pass this along. A good friend sent it to me. -- Diane

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 I 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 gun point 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 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 any thing. '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.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 05, 1998

Answers

Jerry is a survivor, are you? You know yourself better than anyone else, so only you know the answer. And when push comes to shove and life means everything to you, you will survive. Isn't that what life is all about anyway? Never give up, keep going, do something special for someone today and something special for yourself. It is true that it all begins with attitude.

-- Bardou (Bardou@baloney.com), November 05, 1998.

Wonderful post, Diane!!...Yep attitude is everything...next is perception...the combination is unstoppable!

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), November 05, 1998.

I second Donna, Diane you've surpassed yourself, a feat many thought impossible, but you've done it. Where do you find this stuff.

-- Richard Dale (rdale@figroup.co.uk), November 06, 1998.

It's not literature though, very poorly written, as are most American novels (except those of Scott Fitzgerald). "the cat sat on the mat" - Hemingway.

-- Richard Dale (rdale@figroup.co.uk), November 06, 1998.

When I first learned of Y2K I threw my hands up and went the TEOTAWKI route. I was sure I would not live to see 30, something I was not relishing anyway. As the days went by and friends tried to get me out of the slump, they even called up a good friend of mine who is a psychologist, and they talked me out of giving up. Not to deny it was going to happen, but to try to put it into some perspective.

The one thing that kicked in finally was my joy of a challange. All of my life I have been a collector. I like to collect obscure and hard to find things. To me, 80 - 90% of the joy comes from the challange of finishing the set. Usually when I am done witht he collection I sell it off and use the money to start my next hunt. I love a challange.

So I applied my love a challange to life, and in turn Y2K. I have become complacient in my life...in my job...in everything. When I was 4 years old I proclaimed to the world "I'm going to be a writer!" By the age of 16 I was writing for college newspapers although I was still in High School. By the age of 22 I was being published monthly. By the age of 27 (now) I am being paid more than my peers who helped me get started (still doesn't amount to much money, but I get paid the most!). My hunt is over. The challange is gone.

I pray daily that Y2K does not become a form of armageddon. I do not want to see people die. I would love it if life could continue as it is today. If it doesn't though, the sick, sadistic challange side of me goes "OH BABY! The Ultimate Challange! To rebuild!"

Anyway you look at it, when my attitude improved, I felt as if I could move away from TEOTAWAKI...I could see myself surviving. I have the will now. "Attitude, after all, is everything. "

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), November 06, 1998.

Great post! Just being aware of Y2K now, and making it part of my thinking, has given me in many respects a changed attitude today. I'm sure all of us can probably say that. I expect that it is attitude and preparation that will make all the difference for what is coming.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), November 06, 1998.

* "Attitude, after all, is everything," * as long as a positive attitude does not replace realism.

-- dummer (observer@timebomb.2000), November 06, 1998.

Get real. Get on with it. Learn something simple and new. Oh, tell the truth, like Davey Crockett.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 06, 1998.

Great post Diane!! One of my favorite sayings is: (Don't know who said it) "You are free to choose--the choice you make today will determine what you will have, be and do in the tomorrow of your life."

Have a great evening! Donna

-- Donna in Texas (Dd0143@aol.com), November 06, 1998.

THANKS for this posting! My daughter was re-admitted to hospital today for pleural effusion post-surgery and I was having a real pity party for her, me and my family. This post was just what I needed to remember that how I react is at least as important as what's happening. Bless you all.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), November 06, 1998.

Great post. Reminds me also of a saying that the buddhists have that is particularly suited to us westerners that are attempting to come to terms with what may happen in less than a year and a half: " Suffering is simply clinging to that which changes."

-- Damian Solorzano (oggy1@webtv.net), November 07, 1998.

Diane,

Thank you for giving us each a bit of Jerry to take into the future with us. I know I'll be glad to have him with me, however it turns out.

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), November 07, 1998.

LOL LOL LOL! Remember Ronald Reagan's quip to the doctors. "Please tell me you're not democrats!" Terrific.

-- MB (onthelakes@aol.com), January 26, 1999.

Hmm..thanks for pulling out that old thread MB. Re-reading over some of them made me nostalgic. The attitude around this forum really has changed in the past 3 months.

wonder how Richard, Rick and Donna B. are doing.

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), January 26, 1999.

Smile. God gave us one more day.

-- Faze the Nation (dazed@confused.com), January 26, 1999.