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!
