Lessons Learnt in Life 

Charles Plumb was a U.S. 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, " kept
wondering what he might have 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 on 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. 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.

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 parachute. I am sending you this as my way of thanking you for
your part in packing my parachute !!! And I hope you will send it on to
those who have helped pack yours!

Sometimes we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without writing
a word, maybe this could explain: When you are very busy, but still want to
keep in touch, guess what you do -- you forward jokes. And to let you know that you are still remembered, you are still important, you are still loved, you are still cared for, guess what you get? -- A forwarded joke.

So my friend, next time if you get a joke, don't think that you've been sent
just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today and your
friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile.

"You can't change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails"

Food for Thoughts

 Mind bytes

 Pay no attention to what the critics say.  A statue has never been erected in honour of a critics. - Jean Sibelius. 

Dare to risk public criticism. – Many Kay Ash

           If I had listened to the critics, I’d have died drunk in the gutter. – Anton Chekov.

           It is infinitely easier to criticize than to create. – John McCormick.

           All of us could take a lesson from the weather.  It pays no attention to criticism. – Unknown.

  The Hindustan Times – 13.6.2003