The story below is
edited form an email that has found its way to my
mail box on several occasions. While I have always
loved reading it and at times, forwarding it on to
friends and colleagues, I never did more than that
with it.
January is National
Mentoring Month. I have researched and read much
about mentoring in preparation for the month, but
this little story about Captain Plumb says more
about the subject than anything else you can
possibly find.
You may have the
greatest inner strengths, tremendous God given
talents, and remarkable drive and fortitude, but you
still do not do it alone! There is always a support
group behind you, be they subtle or in-your-face
obvious.
I take great
pleasure an honor in sharing Captain J. Charles
Plumb's story with you and providing you with some
links on the left where you can meet and get to know
this inspirational individual.
John Budzinski
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 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 explains that he needed many kinds of
parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy
territory.
"In order to survive I
needed my physical parachute. I also needed my
mental parachute, my emotional parachute, and my
spiritual parachute. I had to call upon all
of 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 packed, and continue to pack your
parachutes. Remember to say thanks. More important,
remember the lesson and the message. Remember to
pass them along. And most important, don't forget
you are needed to pack someone else's
parachute. Do a great job!
Did you ever
wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes or other
types of "unimportant" emails to you
without writing a word? Maybe Captain Plumb's
message can explain it. When you are very busy, but
still want to keep in touch, guess what you do ---
you forward jokes or other nonsensical emails. I
guess maybe we do it because we know, deep inside
that others in our lives are still remembered, are
still important, are still loved, are still cared
for. Maybe the best way we can say that is by
forwarding a joke.
So my friends,
next time when you get a joke, don' 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.
JB
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