Attitude Is Everything 

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 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.

Neither Have I

What's the secret to success? Jason Voldner finds out
By Rochelle M.Pennington/ Illustrations by victor chiu
From A Fifth Portion of Chicken Soup for the Soul

    I believe we find life's most profound lessons in the most unexpected places. Places like a neighborhood Little League baseball field, for example.
    One day I came to watch my young son's baseball game. After sitting down, I looked over at the pitcher's mound. Was that Jason Voldner?
    Jason was a nice, popular kid, but I didn't remember him to the season, he spent most of his time either in right field or on the bench.
    In fact, I believe every ball field has its own version of Jason Voldner.
    The Jasons of the world eagerly show up for their first Saturday morning practice. While the good players start off in good positions, the Jasons wait their turn to play the seventh inning. Right field. Their playing time is not only limited, it's conditional: only if the team is already winning.
    By the end of their "chance to play ball," the heavy-hearted Jasons return home, disappointed. They remember the boy who hit farther, the boy who ran faster, the boy who actually knew what he was supposed to do with the glove.
    Yet here, now, I saw Jason Voldner pitching the game of his life .

    The Trouble with Jason

    I realized that the person sitting beside me was Jason's mother. "Such talent," I said. "I've never seen your son pitch before."
    In a quiet voice she responded, "Neither have I," And then she told me this story.
    "Four weeks ago," his mother explained, "Jason returned from his first practice in a bad mood, I knew something was amiss, yet my questions led no closer to the elusive pain."
    "Later, after bedtime, I was awakened by the sound of Jason crying and overheard his bitter complaints, He was upset about not being chosen for a good infield position."
    As Jason's mother calmed her son, he explained that Matthew was going to play second base "because his dad is coaching." John was playing shortstop "because he's Matthew's friend." Brian also had a good position "because his brother is on the team."
    Listening to Jason, his mother's heart ached for him. There should be a word that takes empathy to another level a word for the exclusive use of parents.
    "While my son was waiting for me to agree with him," said his mother, "I was making the difficult decision not to. First I explained to Jason that we should trust the coach's judgments."

    Working Hard

    "Secondly, I reminded him how we often passed the nearby park and saw Matthew, Jahn and Brian practicing baseball on their own. Playing infield is about working hard, not about getting special treatment.
    "All through your life you will meet people with more talent than you. They may be winners on the ball field, in the classroom or in the workplace. Does this mean you are unable to achieve what they have? Certainly not. You simply have to choose to work harder. Resentment, blame and excuses will only poison your potential."
    Jason's mother said to her son, "You're disheartened because the coach doesn't believe in you, Jason . But before you can expect others to believe in you, you have to believe in yourself. If you earnestly feel you deserve a better position, then prove it." With those words she kissed him goodnight.
    Jason's mother laughed softly. "We spoke more in those few minutes than in the weeks since. Our contact recently has been through notes that Jason leaves me on the kitchen table:'Gone to practice. Gone to prove it .'"
    She paused. "…and he did."

张国荣的东邪西毒
zangxiaohong2222

“我在你心里留下了一样东西……”
——紫霞仙子

   “我的梦中情人，他是一位盖世英雄，我知道有一天，他会穿着金甲圣衣、踏着五彩祥云来娶我……可是，我算出了开始，却没算这出结局……”
——紫霞仙子 

“我哪都不去……我爱你！”
  ——夕阳武士