who is packing your parachute

[winnercafe]

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. Yo u 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.

[Racebred]

he owes more to the guy who serviced his plane, the signaller who aided him in his navigation, the cook who served him a clean healthy meal.... and his life depends on them more often what.

[kenntona]

Dunno about parachute, but the title and story will be more juicy if it reads "Who Is Packing Your Raincoat" ......

[MW]

I think he owes his life more to the Vietnamese for not killing him...