Saying Thank you. Who Packs Your Parachutes?

It was about 6am yesterday morning and I was driving back from Rhode Island over the bridge in New London. The gas tank was on empty (well, actually way below empty) so I was debating as to which exit to get off of to get gas when all of a sudden I heard this loud noise coming from my SUV. I thought it was just the sound the car running on fumes but in actuality I had gotten a flat tire.

Here I was, continuing to try to drive because I thought that I had to get to the gas station or I had a long walk ahead. But then, when I was pulling off to the side of the highway, I realized I had a flat tire. But this wasn't your ordinary flat tire, this was a blow out.

As luck would have it my car pulled to a grinding stop on the corner of the exit ramp in New London. After I called our insurance to assist I proceeded to dig out the spare tire from the back of my car, and dig is to put it mildly. Bare in mind that I had hoppers of tennis balls and boxes of prizes as we had just did a large event at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. So it looked like I was having a tag sale on the side of the highway.

When the tow truck came to fix the tire I was so thankful because now I could actually start my day by going to see my family and then set off to work. One of those orange trucks was directed by a police officer to stay behind us so that no one would hit us. It then hit me that people like these, who help others in distress in just doing their job, usually perform a thankless job in often times hazardous conditions. So I sincerely thanked Steve with a tennis hat from my "tag sale" and off I went to get gas.

Surviving this ordeal reminded me of a story that was shared to me by a friend....

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.

Thank you for your part in packing my parachute.

Suggested Reading:

Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
(Hardcover, 2007) Author: Robert A. Emmons