Parachutes & Things

We do not know who wrote this! It was sent to our email yesterday...

Who is packing your parachute?

>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!

>Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding
>jokes to us without writing a word. Maybe this could explain it: 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 when 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, just helping you pack your parachute.......

>Have a great day and stay in touch.....

>I want to thank everyone who has ever packed my
>parachute! Without each and everyone of you I wouldn't be the
person I am today! Thank You!