FOODFORTHOUGHT

THE PARACHUTE
Author Unknown
December 7, 2011

Charles Plum, a U.S. 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 & parachuted into enemy hands.
He was
captured & spent six years in a Communist prison.

He survived that ordeal & now lectures about lessons learned from
that experience.

One day, when Plumb & his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at
another table came up & 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
& gratitude. The man pumped his hand & 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
Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wondered
how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered
how many times I might have seen him & not even said good morning, how
are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot & 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 &
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, &
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.

SUGGESTION: Recognize people who pack your parachute & strengthen
yourself to prevail through tough times.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Join our group on Facebook and post your comments on the reflection: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=142903436398

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/efoodforthought

Webpage: http://www.dailyfoodforthought.org/
Group Address: http://groups.google.com/group/dailyfoodforthought

GROUP CONTACT:
To subscribe from this group, share a reflection or feedback
on the reflection of the day, send email to: foodforthought2@earthlink.net
To unsubscribe : dailyfoodforthought-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

DISCLAIMER: FoodForThought shared this message as submitted and do not
claim to own any copyright privileges on it. All the messages are
believed to be free for circulation or public domain. All messages come
in either by email in original form or copied from the internet sites.
The work was submitted to us as an item for distribution, and it was
posted solely on the basis of its quality.

© 2011 FoodForThought