Ron is good heart guy. 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 reply, "If I were any better, I
would be twins!"
He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Ron 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 Ron and asked
him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How
do you do it?"
Ron replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, 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," Ron 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 affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The
bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."
I reflected on what Ron said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower 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 Ron was involved in a serious accident,
falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and
weeks of intensive care, Ron was released from the hospital with rods placed in
his back. I saw Ron 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 I did ask him what had gone through his mind
as the accident took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my
soon-to-be born daughter," Ron replied.
"Then, as I lay on the ground, 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.
Ron continued, "... the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was
going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER 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
Michael.
"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, 'Gravity'."
Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as
if I am alive, not dead!"
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Ron 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. After all, today is the tomorrow you
worried about yesterday.
