Charles Plumb was a US 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. Plumb says, 'I kept wondering what he had 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 at 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 audience, 'Who's packing your
parachute?' Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through
the day. He 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
parachutes.
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 it! 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 when you get a joke,
don't think that you've been sent just 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, just helping you pack your parachute.
Wishing you much love, peace and good health this
coming new year-2016
With Love nn
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