Parachute

Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a 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
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 shroud lines 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.

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!