Charles Plumb, who was a U.S. Navy fighter pilot in Vietnam, completed 74 combat missions before being shot down on the 75th in 1967. He ejected and parachuted into enemy territory, where he was captured and endured six challenging years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and later lectured on lessons learned from that experience!
One day, while dining with his wife at a restaurant, a man at another table approached him and said, "You're Plumb who flew jet fighters in Vietnam until once it was shot down!" The man continued, "I packed your parachute." Plumb was taken aback, full of surprise and gratitude for saving his life."
Plumb was unable to sleep that night, thinking about that man. "I wondered how he had looked in a Navy uniform and how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' because I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent carefully packing parachutes, each fold holding the fate of someone he might never meet.
Now, when he lectures publicly, Plumb asks, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. He also points out that when his plane was shot down, he needed many types of parachutes — his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute and his spiritual parachute — to survive and make it to safety. Sometimes in the daily challenges of life, we forget what is really important. We may fail to say hello, thank you, congratulate someone on something or give a compliment. Recognize people who pack your parachutes, whether they are your parents, siblings, friends, teachers or others who lift you up in unseen ways.
