Life is All About Choices

Als ich noch zur Schule ging, bekam ich irgendwie eine Geschichte in die Hände, dich mich sehr bewegt und geprägt hat.

Entweder hatte meine Schwester sie mir geschickt, als sie als Au Pair in Australien war, oder ich hatte es irgendwie im damals noch längst nicht so großen, internationalen, von sozialen Netzwerken und Suchmaschinen geprägten Internet durch eine Newsgroup oder so aufgetan. Jedenfalls war es schon etwas Spezielles, dass ich diese Geschichte auf Englisch irgendwie selbst bekommen hatte – auf jeden Fall hatte ich sie nicht aus der Schule. Das war was Besonderes und ich fand es irgendwie cool.

Auch wenn sie recht kurz und einfach geschrieben ist, so war sie doch sehr eingängig und einprägsam. Ich habe sie nie vergessen und im Gegenteil: ich glaube, mein genereller Optimismus und positive Grundeinstellung, dieses „ich krieg das schon hin“ oder „irgendwie wird es schon werden“, das habe zum einen meinen Eltern, die mich immer haben mein Ding machen lassen, und einigen mir sehr vertrauten Menschen zu verdanken, die mich immer ermutigen und hinter mir stehen. Aber eben auch zu einem Teil habe ich es aus dieser Geschichte.
Aber lest am besten selbst: 

“Jack is the manager of a restaurant in America. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would always 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 could follow him around from restaurant to restaurant.
The reason the waiters followed Jack was because of his attitude.
He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jack 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 Jack and asked him, „I don’t get it! No one can be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?“
Jack 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 a bad mood. I always 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 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 to point out the positive side of life.“
„But it’s not always that easy,“ I protested.
„Yes, it is,“ Jack 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. It’s your choice how you live your life.“

Several years later, I heard that Jack accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business: left the back door of his restaurant open one morning and was robbed by three armed men. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him.

Luckily, Jack was found quickly and rushed to the hospital. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jack was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jack 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 back door,“ Jack replied. „Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or choose to die. I chose to live.“
„Weren’t you scared?“ I asked.
Jack 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 need to take action.“
„What did you do?“ I asked.
„Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me,“ said Jack. „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. Please operate on me as if I am alive, not dead‘.“

Jack 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.”

Wir haben immer eine Wahl.

Quelle: mir unbekannt

Ich habe den Text heute als ersten Google-Hit auf dieser Seite gefunden, als ich nach “Jack story positive attitude bullets” gesucht habe.