A Positive Life

My friend Tom was one of the most positive people I had ever known. He was always in a good mood and always had something encouraging to say.

He was a manager at a restaurant. If his employee had a bad day, Tom always helped him to look on the positive side of the situation.

Tom‘s attitude truly amazed me. So one day I asked him: “How can you be so positive all the time?” He replied: “You see, every morning I tell myself, that I have two choices for that day; to be in a good mood or in a bad. I choose the good one. And when something wrong happens, I can be sad and angry or I can learn from it instead. I choose to learn. Thus I choose the positive side of life.” I said, “It is not that easy.”  He replied, “Yes it is. Life is all about choices. You can choose how people or situation will affect your mood, your life.”

One morning Tom left the restaurant‘s back door open and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. He tried to open the safe, but his hands shook due to nervousness and he slipped off the combination. So the robbers shot him. Fortunately, Tom was quickly found and brought to the nearest hospital. After many hours of surgery and long intensive care, Tom was released home.

When I met him, I asked what his thoughts were during the robbery. I thought that I should have locked the back door, He replied. “Then, when I was lying on the floor, I remembered about my choices in this case, a choice to live and a choice to die. I chose to live.

I asked, if he was scared. Tom continued. “When they wheeled me into emergency room and I looked at the faces of doctors, I got truly scared. I knew that I need to do something. So when the nurse asked me, if I was allergic to anything, I replied, “Yes“. Doctors and nurses stopped working as waited for my answer. I took a deep breath and yelled, “Bullets“. They started laughing and I said, “My choice is to live, treat me as I am alive, not dead.”

Now Tom is alive owing to skills of his doctors, however his amazing attitude played an important role too. I learned from him, that every day we should choose to live fully no matter what.