My Friend John

[GREEN HORNET PILOT CARS]

John was the kind of guy you love to hate. Why? Because he was always in a good mood and
always had something POSITIVE to say about every situation. When someone would ask him how he was
doing, he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!'

John 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 said, 'John, I don't get it!
You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?'

John 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 can't be 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 John said.
The years went by and eventually John and I 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 John 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, John 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?' 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, 'I'm allergic to Gravity''
Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on
me as if I am alive, not dead.'

John 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)

Dave / GREEN HORNET PILOT CARS
www.GreenHornetPilotCars.com