From: DAVID ROSS <dwross@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: September 21, 2021 7:33 PM
To: Nancy Amos <nancyamos01@xxxxxxxxx>; dsp.ea.large.messages@xxxxxxxxx; Bob
Lisevich <blisevich@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Fwd: A THOUGHT TO GO WITH YOUR MORNING COFFEE
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.
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!
Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without writing a
word. Maybe this could explain it! When you are very busy, but still want to
keep in touch, guess what you do - you forward jokes. And to let you know that
you are still remembered, you are still important, you are still loved, you are
still cared for, guess what you get? A forwarded joke.
So, my friend, next time when you get a joke, don't think that you've been sent
just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today and your
friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile, just
helping you pack your parachute.
