who packs your parachute?

[Guest guest]

Who Packs Your Parachute?

>

> 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 from 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 my friend,  next time if you get a joke, don't think that you have 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.

> Thanks!