A wonderful story

[NearokA]

This is how I generally feel about living life. This story was told to me by a dear friend.

Can't nuthin' hold me down!

Jerry is the manager of a restaurant in South Philly.

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 Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a
natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad
day, Jerry 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 Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! No
one can be a positive person all the time. How do you
do it?" Jerry 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 the positive side of life."

"But it's not always 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.
It's your choice how you live your life."

Several years later, I heard that Jerry accidentally
did something you are never supposed to do in the
restaurant business: he 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, Jerry was
found quickly and rushed to the hospital. 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. 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," Jerry 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. 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 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. Please 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 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.

I care.

[duckula]

That story is wank. Get out and never darken our doors again.

[CFC]

Cliff notes please?

[deviljet88]

Mmm... touching. You oldies are too world-hardened to accept such a story unlike a gullible young boy like myself.

[The Black Rider]

That was very nice. I think we can all learn from that.

[frodo1511]

I enjoyed scrolling down to skip every word of it.

[Jasper]

Originally Posted by frodo1511

I enjoyed scrolling down to skip every word of it.

D-I-T-T-O.

Dude, try making posts that have a little less than 5000 words in them.

[Richard]

I've never actually met or even heard of any calm people like Jerry before. You're interesting NearokA, too bad you won't be around anymore. He got banned.

[Jacoby]

That was a good story. I feel bad for his bannination.

[frodo1511]

Other than the fact that he wrote LONG posts, why did he get banned?

[hasselbrad]

Originally Posted by frodo1511

Other than the fact that he wrote LONG posts, why did he get banned?

It may have had something to do with his jousting with Jules. He made a comment that I won't repeat in his signature, which vanished soon after.

[frodo1511]

Ahh, now that clears it up, thanks hassel


Poor guy...

[Renegade]

The story sounds so fabricated. But yeah, I guess we can all learn from it.

[Elijahfan]

Originally Posted by Renegade

The story sounds so fabricated. But yeah, I guess we can all learn from it.

learn?!?!?!? okay i'm just cynical and yes so fabricated.... *feels bad*

about the banning...wow is it just me now noticing that a lot of people seem to be getting banned or are people just getting banned left and right...whichever please oh great adminstrators and whoever, continue....the trick is to not piss them off. :Hail:

[EmotionSickness]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that 99% of the time, the mods/admins don't ban someone unless they have just cause to. That's not to say they've never messed up (Ryan's temp-ban, anyone?), but I must say I almost always agree with their decisions (as do most of the people here, I'd think). Besides, it's usually just a one or two-day ban; I can't recall the last perma-ban that was administered (besides Haz, but that was at his behest). Anyway, enough about that.

About the story ... sounds like a load of bull to me. Very Chicken Soup For the Soul-esque, dontcha think?

[Liam]

What the fuck?

I'll be honest and say I preferred the old system where regular mods couldn't do any banning - any bans were left to Baz or myself to sort out (and Apoggy now). Not to say that I don't trust the mods - I trust them all 100% or they would be out of work - I just feel that sometimes temp-bans are given out for things that Baz or myself wouldn't have given them out for.

I don't know who banned this chap or why, but I'll talk with the other admins and mods and find out. I'll unban and email him if it was undeserved, but for the moment, the ban stands.

Liam

[deviljet88]

Wow, one of the few sane members around here and they get banned for one insult at a mod... Can't you waste your time on spammers who offer no useful contribution to this forum? Or even considering using your time to rid the countless number of people who don't even post in this forum?

[Leonie]

Liam says he's working on it, kiddo, so shhh.

And to drag this back on topic - the story...

It's a tad soppy, but I do believe in optimism and all that. I don't seriously think I'd be joking while nearly dying, and I don't think you can actually stop yourself from dying by being an optimist. Having said that - here's a little true story of my own. My grandmother was dying of cancer, it had pretty much spread out all through her body, she was on morphine 24-7... Not good. She refused to die before her 83rd birthday though And she made it. Even though doctors didn't understand, she should have passed away long before that, she made it. Willpower. Sheer stubbornness actually. It might be a family trait

[hasselbrad]

Originally Posted by Renegade

The story sounds so fabricated. But yeah, I guess we can all learn from it.

Not fabricated, rather tasteless. Don't blame her a bit.
I moderate on another board (sports related) and it would have gotten him tossed there too.