Make It A Great Day Or Not, The Choice Is Yours….

Who would have thought that something said over your Middle School PA system would stick with you for over 12 years? During Middle School, the announcements were made every single morning by the assistant principal. Each announcement concluded the same with a “word of the day” and a short, yet meaningful phrase. That phrase being, “make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.” As the economy takes a turn for the worst, this phrase has an added meaning to me now more than ever. I find myself working three jobs during the school year along with working towards my Master’s degree in TESOL. In addition, I work two jobs and take classes during the evening throughout the summer. About a year ago, my boyfriend and I purchased a wonderful, petite house, which also enhances the anxiety. I frequently feel as if I am trying to excavate myself out a hole that seems to be cavernous. On the weekends, I open a restaurant and am the server manager on Saturday lunch shifts. As the responsibilities pile on, the weight of the pressure renders me hopeless at times. Regardless of the support in which I receive on the home front, I am bleakly aware of the copious amounts of difficulties that lie ahead. Each day I attempt to remain optimistic and discover that the once, meaningless quote that was repeated day in and day out during my middle school years, is something to live by. In spite of the difficulties that seem to be overwhelming at the moment, I am able to distinguish that there will be an end to this never ending madness.

Constantly looking for inspirational quotes and motivation, I stumbled upon a wonderful and stimulating short story. “Positive Thinking,” written by Francie Baltazar-Schwartz, is a motivating story that has given me a different insight on the difficulties I encounter and how to manage them. Pasted in red, is the short story written by Francie Baltazar-Schwartz that will truly encourage you to alter your personal outlook on life.

 "Positive Thinking"

by: Francie Baltazar-Schwartz

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 gunpoint by three armed 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 replied, “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.

Hopefully, this story was as inspirational to you as it were to me.  I will leave you with one last phrase that is more pertinent  now than ever…Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours! 

(for more inspirational and motivational stories, you can click on the link provided below. http://academictips.org/blogs/positive-thinking/)

Important Vocabulary

1. Petite – very small
2. Excavate – to dig
3. Cavernous – a big hole
4. Render – to make or become
5. Distinguish – to be able to tell the difference between two things
6. Copious – to have a lot of
7. Encounter – to come across or come into contact with
8. Unique – only one of its kind or to stand out
9. Trauma – to experience a lot of pain
10. Fragments – pieces or parts of something
11. Burly – strong or heavily built
12. Pertinent – important or significant

Vocabulary Practice

Directions: Find the 10 vocabulary words listed below in the word search box.

1. PETITE 2. EXCAVATE 3. CAVERNOUS 4. RENDER 5. DISTINGUISH 6. COPIOUS 7. UNIQUE 8. TRAUMA 9. BURLY 10. PERTINENT

Grammar Point

A contraction is a shortened form of one or two words (one of which is usually a verb). In a contraction, an apostrophe takes the place of the missing letter or letters. Here is a chart of contractions and the breakdown of each contraction
.

Read the sentences below and list the contractions on piece of loose leaf paper.

1. I can’t believe that Jessica has such a unique sense of style.
2. Darren didn’t like the petite Yorkie(type of dog), instead, he went for the more burly Labrador (type of dog).
3. Marc kept telling me that he doesn’t like Mexican food, so I think we’ll go to an Italian restaurant instead.
4. Monday morning’s are always the worst, it’s almost impossible for my little brother to get out of bed.
5. Claire is constantly wandering the halls and she’s never on time to her health class even though she wouldn’t graduate if she has too many absences.

Grammar Practice

After reading the story “Positive Thinking,” list the contractions and write out the two words that make up the contraction.  Use the chart above as a reference and/or this website (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/contractions/list.shtml).