Subject: 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 Captain 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, or 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 we're
very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what we do--we
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, each time when you get a joke, don't think that
you've been sent just another forwarded joke, but rather 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 !!! Thanks for being in my life. |
