[People] - Who Packs Your Parachutes?

Written by madnilk Monday, 23 November 2009 00:31

Have we ever thought of people who might pack our 'parachutes'? Let us learn from this story:

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!      

p/s: LOVE EVERYONE Daaaaaaaaaaaa