Attitude, It's Our Choice!
 

Frank 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 Frank was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Frank was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing his style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Frank and asked him, 'I don't get it! You can't be a positive, up person all the time. How do you do it?" Frank replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, 'Frank 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," Frank said. "Life is all about choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good or bad mood. The bottom line: it's your choice how you live your life." I reflected on what Frank 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 the Frank did something you are never supposed to do in the 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. One of the robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Frank was found relatively quickly, and was rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Frank was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Frank about 6 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, Frank replied. "Then, as I laid on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I choose to live." "Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Frank continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I really got 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 Frank. "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.'" Frank 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.