[South Florida DX Association] Re: Life is about choices

[NPAlex at aol.com]

All,
Because of the specific event mentioned in this story I decided to send it to 
the distribution.  Not many of us climb towers anymore, but if you did/do 
this gives you an action item.  Bruce this applies to garage roofs as well.
=============================================

LET IT REALLY SINK IN - THEN CHOOSE.

  

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. 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, John 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 and asked him, 
"I don't get it! 
  
You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" 
  
He 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," he 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 he 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 he was involved in a serious accident, 
falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. 
  
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from 
the hospital with rods placed in his back. 
  
I saw him 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," he 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. 
  
He 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 John. "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." 
  
He 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. 
  
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. 
Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34. 
  
After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. 
  
You have two choices now: 
  
01. Delete this 
  
02. Forward it to the people you care about. 
  
You know the choice I made.