Carol,
I have to say that during my years in the law library at UNC (as a
student and student worker) this is *exactly* the attitude that you
displayed to us all, with admirable consistency. Thanks for that, and for
sharing the story with us.
Jean McKnight
Reference Librarian
Southern Illinois University School of Law Library
At 10:21 AM 6/4/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=us-ascii
>Content-ID: <Pine.PCW.3.96.970603165117.7063C@rfortune.law.unc.edu>
>
>
>I couldn't resist passing this on... I've been a firm believer for many
>years now. It's not always easy (or obvious), but it works!
>
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> % %
> % Carol Avery Nicholson Kathrine R. Everett Law Library %
> % Assistant Director for University of North Carolina %
> % Collection Resources and Chapel Hill, NC 27599 %
> % Bibliographic Services Tel: 919/962-1199 %
> % %
> % Carol_Nicholson@unc.edu Fax: 919/962-1193 %
> % %
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>
>
>**************************************
>
>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!
>
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:49:35 PST