Off topic- to some of my parachutes!

[Guest guest]

"Who Packs Your Parachute?"

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.

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 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. 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 next time, if 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.

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