Trying To Do The Job Alone

Dear Sir:

I am writing in response to your request for additional information for my insurance claim. In block 3 of the accident claim form I put "trying to do the job alone" as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain that statement more fully. I trust the following details will be sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the date of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work I discovered that I had about 500 pounds of brick left over. Rather than carrying the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached to the side of the building at the sixth-floor level. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out, and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of bricks.

You will note in block number 22 of the claim form that my weight is 135 pounds. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rather rapid rate up the side of the building

In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming down. This explains my fractured skull and broken collarbone. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately, by this time, I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope in spite of my pain.

At approximately the same time however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel then weighed approximately 50 pounds.  I refer you again to my weight in block 2. As you might imagine, I began a rather rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles and the lacerations of my legs and lower body.

The encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of bricks. Fortunately, only three vertebrae were cracked.  I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks in pain, unable to stand, and watching the empty barrel six stories above me, I again lost my presence of mind, and let go of the rope. The empty barrel weighed more than the rope so it came down and broke my legs.

I hope I have furnished information required as to how the accident occurred, because I was trying to do the job alone.

Sincerely, The Bricklayer

*We know that we never have to do any job alone.  As missionaries, we have companions.  When we are married, we have a spouse.  Throughout our whole lives, we have the Gift of the Holy Ghost as our constant friend, guide, and comforter.  And, of course, we always have our savior, Jesus Christ.  Isn't it a blessing to know we never have to explain that we did the job alone.*

Attitude Is Everything

John is the kind of guy you love to hate.  He is always in a good mood and always has 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 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 asked him, "I don't get it!  You can't be a positive person all of the time.  How do you do it?"  He 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's not 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 a good mood or bad mood.  The bottom line:  It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said.  Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business.  We 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 he 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, 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 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 coudl choose to die.  I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared?  Did you lose consciousness?"  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 this 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, 'Gravity!'.  Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live.  Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude...I leanred from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.  Attitude, after all, is everything.

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself..." Matthew 6:34