In 2002 my son, in the Navy at the time, emailed the document below to us. I would forward it on at this time of year to the team I used to supervise (pre-retirement), and to my friends, to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for them "packing my parachute" - I couldn't have said it any better. I feel that MY LIFE is a team effort. From the bottom of my heart - Thank You for your part in Packing My Parachute.
Charles 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 that provides what he needs 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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