Attitude is Everything

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, but 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."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon after that, 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 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, Tie'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, '1 am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.' "

Jerry lived thanks to the skill oi~ 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.

Post-Reading

A Use alternative words to express the following.

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1) Jerry was the kind of guv you love to hate; 2) If I were any

better, 1 would be twins; 3) When you cut away all the junk.......;

4) We lost touch with.......; 5) Wanna see my scars?; 6) I declined

to see his wounds; 7) an emergency room; 8) a big burly nurse; 9) Life is all about choices; 10) lose consciousness.

В Give the English for.

1) размышлять над чем-либо; 2) интенсивная терапия; 3) хорошее настроение; 4) любопытный; 5) иметь аллергию на что-либо; 6) паниковать; 7) собраться с духом; 8) вопить, визжать; 9) испугаться; 10) поразительный, потрясающий; 11) ограбление (вооруженное)

С Pick up the phrases from the text which characterize Jerry as a unique and optimistic person.

D Answer the following questions.

1. What did Jerry do? 2. Why did several waiters follow him from restaurant to restaurant? 3. What could the story-teller hardly believe? 4. What happened to Jerry one day? 5. How different were the paramedics and the professionals who took care of Jerry? 6. How did Jerry reveal his sense of humour? 7. Why do you think Jerry survived in this dangerous situation?

E Discuss the following.

1. Do you think an optimistic viewpoint of things is more preferable than a pessimistic one? Give your arguments. 2. Do you think people are born to be optimistic and pessimistic? Is there a chance for a pessimist to become more optimistic? 3. Which are you⁰ A pessimist or an optimist?

UNIT 2

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