Who packs your parachute?

[Carol Anne Kincaid~Paradis]

Who packs your parachute?

• A TRUE STORY about Charles Plumb

  -- Author Unknown

  Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a U.S. Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane as 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 man 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 who provides what they need 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 the people who pack your parachute.

  Read more about this story here: http://homeport.usnaweb.org/parachute.html

  I had spent an hour in the bank with my dad, as he had to transfer some money. I couldn't resist myself & asked...
  
  ''Dad, why don't we activate your internet banking?''
  
  ''Why would I do that?'' He asked...
  
  ''Well, then you wont have to spend an hour here for things like transfer.
  
  You can even do your shopping online. Everything will be so easy!''
  
  I was so excited about initiating him into the world of Net banking.
  
  He asked ''If I do that, I wont have to step out of the house?
  
  ''Yes, yes''! I said. I told him how even grocery can be delivered at door now and how amazon delivers everything!
  
  His answer left me tongue-tied.
  
  He said ''Since I entered this bank today, I have met four of my friends, I have chatted a while with the staff who know me very well by now.
  
  You know I am alone...this is the company that I need. I like to get ready and come to the bank. I have enough time, it is the physical touch that I crave.
  
  Two years back I got sick, The store owner from whom I buy fruits, came to see me and sat by my bedside and cried.
  
  When your Mom fell down few days back while on her morning walk. Our local grocer saw her and immediately got his car to rush her home as he knows where I live.
  
  Would I have that 'human' touch if everything became online?
  
  Why would I want everything delivered to me and force me to interact with just my computer?
  
  I like to know the person that I'm dealing with and not just the 'seller'. It creates bonds of Relationships.
  
  Does Amazon deliver all this as well?'''
  
  Technology isn't life..
  Spend time with people .. Not with devices.
  
  Writer: Unknown

  HAPPY TRAILS....