[16935] in Athena Bugs
Fwd: Fw: WHO'S PACKING YOUR PARACHUTE?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Katherine Burke)
Thu Jul 1 09:07:18 1999
Message-Id: <3.0.32.19990701090657.0090b100@po9.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 01 Jul 1999 09:06:58 -0400
To: bugs@MIT.EDU
From: Katherine Burke <kburke@MIT.EDU>
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>X-Sender: jer@po8.mit.edu
>Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 15:23:06 -0400
>To: kburke@MIT.EDU
>From: "Jane E. Roberts" <jer@MIT.EDU>
>Subject: Fwd: Fw: WHO'S PACKING YOUR PARACHUTE?
>
>This is a really nice story :-)
>
>
>>
>>>> >>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.
>>>> >>
>>>> >>Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter 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 pondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform, a
>>>> Dixie
>>>> >>cup 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 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.
>>>> >>
>>>> >>His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever
>>>> >>storms lie ahead. As you go through this week, this month, this
>>>> >>year...recognize the people who pack your parachute! And Thank You for
>>>> >>packing mine, I am forever grateful! "The smallest deed always exceeds
>>>> >>the grandest of intentions.
>>>
>>
>>
>
