Who Packed Your Parachute?

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface to air missile.  He ejected and parachuted into enemy hands, which led to six years in a communist Vietnamese prison.  He survived the ordeal and now lectures on the lessons he learned from that experience. 

One day, Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant when a man 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.” Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. 

The man pumped Plumb’s hand and said: “I guess it worked!” 

“It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”  Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about the man. 

“I kept wondering what he might look like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers,” he said.  “I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said ‘Good morning, how are you?’ 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 silks of each parachute; each time holding in his hands the fate of someone he didn’t know. 

He now 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 many kinds of parachutes were needed when his plane was shot down over enemy territory – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  He had to call on all of these supports before he reached safety. 

Sometimes we miss what is really important in the daily challenges that life gives us.  We may fail to say, hello, please, thank you or congratulations; to pay a compliment or to do something kind for no particular reason. 

As we go through this week, month, year, we might want to try to recognise the people who pack our parachutes.

(This appeared in an article that was spotted by Ruth Weaver and passed to us by Jan Abrahamffy. Charles Plumb’s story is one of many that have been featured on “Focus on the Family” – 1Way-FM 91.9 – Daily at 11.30am).

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