在经历了18个小时的手术和数周的精心护理之后，迈克尔出院了，背部装有金属杆。大约事故半年之后，我见到了迈克尔。当我问他怎么样时，他回答，“如果我还能再好，我就成双胞胎了。想看看我的伤疤吗?”我拒绝看他的伤痕，但的确问了他事故发生时他是怎么想的。

　　"the first thing that went through my mind was the well being of my soon-to-born daughter," michael replied. "then, as i lay on the ground, remembered 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. michael continued, "... the paramedics were great. they kept telling me i was going to be fine. but when they wheeled me into the operation room and i saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, i got really scared. in their eyes, l 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 michael. "she asked me if i was allergic to anything. ‘yes,’ i said. 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'm choosing to live. operate on me as if i am alive, not dead'."

　　“我首先想到的是我那即将出世的女儿的幸福生活，”迈克尔答道。“当时我躺在地上，我记起我有两种选择：我可以选择活着，也可以选择死。我选择了活。”“你难道不害怕吗?你失去知觉了吗?”我问。迈克尔接着说，“……那些护理人员棒极了。他们不停地告诉我我会好的。但当他们把我推进手术室，我看到医生和护士脸上的表情时，我真是吓坏了。在他们的眼里，我读出了‘他是个死人。’我知道我应该采取行动。”“你采取了什么行动?”我问道。“有一位人高马大的护士大声冲我问问题，”迈克尔说。“她问我是否对什么过敏。‘是的，’我说。医生和护士都停下手中的活儿等我回答。我深吸一口气大声说出，‘万有引力。’他们的笑声未了，我告诉他们，‘我选择活着。把我当活人而不是死人来做手术。”’

　　michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. i 1eamed from him that every day we have a choice to live fully. attitude is everything.

　　迈克尔活了下来，这要感谢他那些医生的高明医术，但也要归功于他那令人赞叹的态度。我从他那里学到了我们每天都有机会充实地活着，关键是态度。