Packing Parachutes

INSIGHTS INTO EXCELLENCE
Packing Parachutes - Excerpt from Chapter 16
By Charlie Plumb
(http://www.charlieplumb.com/book-insights. htm)

Recently, I was sitting in a restaurant in Kansas City. A man about two tables away kept looking at me. I didn't recognize him. A few minutes into our meal he stood up and walked over to my table, looked down at me, pointed his finger in my face and said, "You're Captain Plumb."

I looked up and I said, "Yes sir, I'm Captain Plumb."

He said, "You flew jet fighters in Vietnam. You were on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down. You parachuted into enemy hands and spent six years as a prisoner of war."

I said, "How in the world did you know all that?"

He replied, "Because, I packed your parachute."

I was speechless. I staggered to my feet and held out a very grateful hand of thanks. This guy came up with just the proper words. He grabbed my hand, he pumped my arm and said, "I guess it worked."

"Yes sir, indeed it did", I said, "and I must tell you I've said a lot of prayers of thanks for your nimble fingers, but I never thought I'd have the opportunity to express my gratitude in person."

He said, "Were all the panels there?"

"Well sir, I must shoot straight with you," I said, "of the eighteen panels that were supposed to be in that parachute, I had fifteen good ones. Three were torn, but it wasn't your fault, it was mine. I jumped out of that jet fighter at a high rate of speed, close to the ground. That's what tore the panels in the chute. It wasn't the way you packed it."

"Let me ask you a question," I said, "do you keep track of all the parachutes you pack?"

"No" he responded, "it's enough gratification for me just to know that I've served."

I didn't get much sleep that night. I kept thinking about that man. 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 wondered how many times I might have passed him on board the Kitty Hawk. I wondered 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. How many hours did he spend on that long wooden table in the bowels of that ship weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of those chutes? I could have cared less...until one day my parachute came along and he packed it for me.

So the philosophical question here is this: How's your parachute packing coming along? Who looks to you for strength in times of need? And perhaps, more importantly, who are the special people in your life who provide you the encouragement you need when the chips are down? Perhaps it's time right now to give those people a call and thank them for packing your chute.

The Ideal of Karma-Yoga- Swami Vivekananda

CHAPTER VIII

THE IDEAL OF KARMA-YOGA

The grandest idea in the religion of the Vedanta is that we may reach the same goal by different paths; and these paths I have generalized into four, viz. those of work, love, psychology, and knowledge. But you must, at the same time, remember that these divisions are not very marked and quite exclusive of each other. Each blends into the other. But according to the type which prevails, we name the divisions. It is not that you can find men who have no other faculty than that of work, nor that you can find men who are no more than devoted worshippers only, nor that there are men who have no more than mere knowledge. These divisions are made in accordance with the type or the tendency that may be seen to prevail in a man. We have found that, in the end, all these four paths converge and become one. All religions and all methods of work and worship lead us to one and the same goal.

MOTHER

ABBREVIATION OF MOTHER: M:MOST O:ORIGNAL T:TOPCLASS H:HONOURABLE E:EXCELLENT R:RESPECTABLE Who ran to help me when I fell, And would some pretty story tell, Or kiss the place to make it well? My Mother. Smiles of happy sunshine, Arms of everlasting love, Touch of sweet roses, There is magic in the air Whenever You are there, Mother, everything to U I owe, May all pleasures of life come your way. When u feel u r alone in a crowd, when u think no one can understand u, when u think your love is rejected by others, and when u hate your life just close your eyes and think about her who loves u truly, cares for u in your loneliness, dies when u cry, she is no one else but MOM The love she has deep in her heart, Always gives me a good jump start, She is the one who’s love is true, Thank u Mom for being u. The Miracle of Life Nurtured by a woman Who gave us Love and sacrifice… is “MOTHER” When you feel you are alone in the Crowd, When you Think No one can Understand you, When your love is rejected by others, & when your hate your Life, Just Close your eyes, & see, Her face who Loves you, More than any one else, Who Care for you in loneliness, & dies when you cry. She is no One, But your Sweet Loving Mother. Love your mom first. There is no velvet so soft as a mother’s lap, no rose as lovely as her smile, no path so flowery as that imprinted with her footsteps. Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. A mother serves her sugar with A bit of peppermint To clarify the passages That carry what she meant When she first set to bear a soul Quite separate from her own, Whom she would cherish, yet must teach To live and die alone. M – For the MILLION things she gave me, O – For she’s growing OLD, T – For the TEARS she shed to save me, H – For her HEART of purest gold, E – For her EYES, with love-light shining, R – For she is always RIGHT and always be. Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs… since the payment is pure love. Once upon a memory Someone wiped away a tear Held me close and loved me, Thank you, dear Mother . If I have never said thank you for bringing me into the world I'd like to do that now. The sweetest sounds to mortals given are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven. Never marry a man who hates his mother, because he'll end up hating you. A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary. The Best, Which Touched: When I came home in the rain, My Brother Asked: Why U Didn’t take an Umbrella. Sister:(Advised) why didn’t U wait till rain stopped. Father(Angrily) : Warned! only after getting cold, U will realize. . . . Mother: while drying my Hair, said, “STUPID RAIN! couldn’t it wait, till my child came home.” That's MAA (Mother) __._,_.___