Consider the following story:

Jay 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, "Couldn't be better."

He was a unique fireman and because of his attitude people looked up to him. If you were having a bad day, Jay was always there telling you to look on the positive side of the situation.

Once, I asked Jay, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Jay replied, "Each morning I 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."

He continued, "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

Several years later, I heard that Jay was shot while trying to help an old lady held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. Luckily, he was found quickly and rushed to the Emergency Room.

I saw Jay about six months after the accident. He was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "Couldn't be better."

I asked him what he was thinking after he was shot.

"The first thing that went through my mind was that I should been more careful", Jay replied. "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?" I asked.

Jay 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 looks 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 Jay. 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."

Jay 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.

Momentum4Youth booklet-Chapter 3