Appreciation for Others

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.