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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.
Author Unknown
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2005 Dennis Dickson, Fly Fishing
Dennis Dickson Fly Fishing
Steelhead Guide dddicksons@aol.com
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