THE ONE WHO HELPED

[Guest guest]

THE ONE WHO HELPED

 

 

“Unless God wills it, no one meets us on the way.” –

Shri Sai Samarth Satcharita, Ch. 32, Ovi 57.

 

Charles Plumb was a U.S. 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 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 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.

 

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 parachute. 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!