"Who's packing your parachute?"

OliveOil

A good thing to pass along
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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!
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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!"

. |$ o: H3 x8 ^"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!”
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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。

( I7 J7 ~0 r/ y9 {Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?"
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" V4 `4 E, p( c9 R1 K, GEveryone 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.
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0 {7 a% B" k9 z/ U( b+ l0 BSometimes 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.
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[ Last edited by OliveOil on 2004-11-27 at 08:00 PM ]

mercurybird

good

小叶子

up!

OliveOil

Up! I wish more of us would read such short and easy essays, which should be a good and fun start to improve English!

阿莉

Good article!

The article's difficult for me to read fruently,but easy to understand.
thx.

朝阳

sometimes, it's me who pack your parachute; sometimes, it's you who pack his parachute; sometimes it's him or her who packs my parachute............so every one should live a life with gratitude.
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Oliveoil gave us a good article.

connie

I wish more of us would read such short and easy essays, which should be a good and fun start to improve English

connie

Originally posted by 朝阳 at 2004-12-5 07:11 PM:
sometimes, it's me who pack your parachute; sometimes, it's you who pack his parachute; sometimes it's him or her who packs my parachute............so every one should live a life with gratitude.
...

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7 `5 V4 d1 ?7 n2 I5 S2 l$ i* DAgree!!!:D