The Important Things Life Teaches You...
Lesson 1:
Most Important Question During my second month of night school, our professor gave us a
pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until
I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the
school?" Obviously, this was some kind of joke...
I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her
50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank.
Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz
grade. "Absolutely," said the professor. "In your lives, in your
careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your
attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say 'hello.'"
I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was
Dorothy.
Lesson 2: Pickup in the Rain
One night, at 11:30 PM, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an
Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had broken down and
she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.
A young white man stopped to help her -- generally unheard of in those
conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put
her into a taxi cab. She seemed to be in a big hurry! She wrote down his
address, thanked him and drove away.
Seven days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant
console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached. It read:
"Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The
rain drenched not only my clothes but my spirits. Then you came along. Because of
you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away.
God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others."
Sincerely,
Mrs. Nat King Cole
Lesson 3: Always remember those who serve.
In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel
coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of
him.
"How much is an ice cream sundae?"
"Fifty cents," replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his
pocket and studied a number of coins in it.
"How much is a dish of plain ice cream?" he inquired. Some people were now
waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient. Thirty-five cents,"
she said brusquely. The little boy again counted the coins. "I'll have the plain ice
cream," he said.
The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The
boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed.
When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at
what she saw. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five
pennies - her tip. (The little boy had taken less for himself, even though he had the
money for it, in order to "remember those who serve".)
Lesson 4: The Obstacle in Our Path
In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and
watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest
merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king
for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of
the way.
Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder,
the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road.
After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked
up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had
been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the
gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.
The peasant learned what many others never understand.
Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one's condition.
Lesson 5: Giving Blood
Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at Stanford Hospital, I got to know a
little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance
of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had
miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat
the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the
boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for
only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will
save Liz."
As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did,
seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He
looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right
away?"
Being young, the boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give
his sister all of his blood. The boy, in his mind, had been prepared to give his life so
that his sister could live.
Lesson 6: I'VE TWO CHOICES
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, 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. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line:
It's your choice how you live life."
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to
start my own business. We lost touch, but 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 gun point
by three 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 said, "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, '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 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. 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 we have the choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything.
You have 2 choices now:
1. Save or delete this mail from your mailbox, or
2. Forward it to people you care about. Hope you will choose the later.
:Work like you don't need the money.
:Love like you've never been hurt.
:Dance like nobody's watching
