This isn't an Ercoupe thing, but definitly is a pilot thing. Thought you might enjoy it. Doug
>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... > >Commander Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter >pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was hit and destroyed >by a surface-to-air missile. Commander 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 from another table came up and said, "You're Commander >Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty >Hawk. And you were shot down!" > >"How in the world did you know that?" he asked. > >"I packed your parachute," the man replied. > >Commander Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man shook his hand >and said, "I guess it worked!" with a smile. Commander Plumb assured him, >"It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today." > >Commander Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. He >said, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform a >Dixie cup 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, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." > >Commander Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long >wooden table in the packing room of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds >and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the >life of someone he didn't know. Now, Commander Plumb asks his audience, >"Who's packing your parachute?" > >Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the >day. Commander Plumb 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. His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather >whatever storms lie ahead. > >As you walk through your life, recognize the people who pack your parachute. >
<<attachment: winmail.dat>>
