I.R.PIRATE
8th Jun 2005, 16:49
Who packs 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 six years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and these days’ lectures on lessons learned from his 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 and you were shot down.”
“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb. “I packed your parachute”, the man replied. Plumb gazed in surprise and gratitude. The man shook his hand and said, “I guess it worked.” Plumb assured him, “It sure did, if your chute had not worked, I would not be here today.”
Plumb could not sleep that night, thinking about that man, “I kept wondering what he looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib on the back, and bellbottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said “Good morning, how are you?” or anything else because 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 bench table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each parachute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he din not know.
Now, Plumb asks his audience, “Who is 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 different parachutes when he 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 eventually 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 special reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year please recognise the people who pack your parachutes.
;)
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 six years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and these days’ lectures on lessons learned from his 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 and you were shot down.”
“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb. “I packed your parachute”, the man replied. Plumb gazed in surprise and gratitude. The man shook his hand and said, “I guess it worked.” Plumb assured him, “It sure did, if your chute had not worked, I would not be here today.”
Plumb could not sleep that night, thinking about that man, “I kept wondering what he looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib on the back, and bellbottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said “Good morning, how are you?” or anything else because 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 bench table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each parachute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he din not know.
Now, Plumb asks his audience, “Who is 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 different parachutes when he 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 eventually 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 special reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year please recognise the people who pack your parachutes.
;)