Who packed your Parachute?
Charles Plumb
was a U.S. Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane
was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted
into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist
Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons
learned from that experience.
One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at
another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in
Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied.
Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said,
"I guess it worked!"
Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be
here today."
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. "I kept wondering
what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the
back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen
him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you
see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor."
Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table
in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the
silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he
didn't know.
Now, Plumb asks his audiences, "Who's packing your parachute?"
Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the
day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his
plane was shot down over enemy territory-he needed his physical parachute,
his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute.
He called on all these supports before reaching safety.
Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is
really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you,
congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give
a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through
this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachute.
I am sending you this as my way of thanking you for your part in packing my
parachute !!! And I hope you will send it on to those who have helped pack
yours!
Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without
writing a word, maybe this could explain: When you are very busy, but still
want to keep in touch, guess what you do - --you forward jokes. And to let
you know that you are still remembered, you are still important, you are
still loved, you are still cared for, guess what you get ? --- A forwarded
joke. So my friend, next time if you get a joke, don't think it has been
sent just as another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today
and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a
smile.
Author Unknown
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Through meditation and divination one can open up awareness to other realms of existence within and without of oneself – a journey which may ultimately lead one to enlightenment.