Who Is Packing Your Parachute

“Great men are rarely isolated mountain peaks; they are the summits of ranges.”

— Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Do you ever take the time to think about the fast food attendant that takes your order or delivers your meal? What about the postal worker or UPS driver that sorts and delivers the packages for you to conduct your daily business? What about the truck driver who delivers fuel to the service station so that you can fill up your car and go about your daily chores. I expect that you, like me, give little, if any, thought about these individuals.

In the daily grind of life we often fail to recognize all of the good that is done on our behalf. I heard this story once that helps me remember all those individuals who are on “my team” and help me accomplish my tasks.

This story is about a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam by the name of Charles Plumb. Plumb had completed 75 combat missions when he was shot down, ejected and parachuted into enemy hands, afterwards he spent six years in a Vietnamese prison. Fortunately he survived and today shares with groups the many lessons he learned.

One day while eating at a restaurant with his wife 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," the man replied. Charles Plumb in surprise and gratitude had to catch his breath. 
The man then shook his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him it had and said, "If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."
Charles Plumb is now a motivational speaker telling this story to hundreds. He always ask his audiences after telling it, "Who's packing your parachute?"
Charles Plumb is now a motivational speaker telling this story to hundreds. He always ask his audiences after telling it, "Who's packing your parachute?"

That night Plumb could not sleep. "I kept pondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform - a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers”, he said. “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", recalled Plumb.

Plumb thought a lot about that man who had packed his parachute and the hours he spent at a wooden table at the bottom of the ship carefully packing his and others chutes. He held in his hands the chute; the fate of someone he didn’t even know. 

In our life many people have a hand in our parachutes. Are we taking the time to acknowledge them, thank them, reward them? It is very easy to overlook the work of the many people we come in contact with each day. When an athletic team has won a championship do you ever hear them thank the trainer, the cook, the bus driver? Do they take the time to reward them too? It takes a lot of people to create a championship team, just as it takes a lot of people to make us successful each day.

We often notice those who aid in helping us be late, miss an appointment or negatively affect the outcome of a deal we are working. What about those who help us get it right? The next time you have the opportunity, thank those who are doing a good job. Reward them. Let them know you notice and appreciate them. I know you will be glad you did and our community will be better off because of it.

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* This article was originally printed in the Sunday, February 23, 2014 issue

of The Chronicle's"Planting Seeds" column.

A Sticky Situation

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”

— Abraham Lincoln

I hope you have recovered from the “Snowpocolypse of 2014”. I hope we won’t see any ice like that again for a long time, but I hear we do have some frigid temperatures forecast for next week, so restock and let’s get ready to hunker-down again!

While I don’t necessarily like the conditions under which it came, I did enjoy very much spending a couple of days at home with my family and getting to experience my boys’ first real snow days in their own home. (We were in Nashville a few years ago when Ethan got to experience his first snow.) I still don’t think our corgi understands or likes snow, at all.

Every time I hear ice and snow in the forecast I can’t help but think back to the Ice Storm of ’94 that I spent in the Delta. It was beautiful, treacherous, and fun all at the same time. Yes, it was fun for the obvious reasons that we were out of school, we got to head to the levee and slide down those steep hills (they aren't so abundant in the Delta you know), and that I got to throw snow and ice at my sister and didn't get in trouble – that much.

My fondest memories of that time are in regard to my family. We were without power for 14 days. That is an eternity to someone who, at the time, was used to having TV on all the time. We had no power, no TV, no refrigerator, no nothing (it seemed like). Luckily our house at that time was gas. We had a stove to cook on, a floor furnace and gas logs to heat the home, and a gas hot water heater. It was very primitive during that time but we all enjoyed each other as a family. The only form of communication we had was through the one country radio station that wasn't knocked out during the storm. I remember that once they ran out of music, they would play old TV theme songs, just for something different.

As much fun as I remember, I am sure at the time, things weren't so fun. I am sure we got on each other’s nerves. I am sure we bothered each other. And, I am sure at some point we never wanted to see each other again.

Its funny how even the people we love the most get on our nerves and seem to throw off OUR plans and ways of doing things. Sometimes our family’s differences s aren't the only ones that get on our nerves. Some times it’s our co-workers. Other times it may be our teammates. Perhaps still it is a social group or civic club that ruffles our feathers. I heard this great story that illustrates my point and I’d like to share it with you. It goes something like this:

It was the coldest winter ever in January that year. Many animals were dying. There was a group of porcupines that realized their situation was not so good. So they decided to huddle together. By grouping together they would be covered, protected, and their warmth would spread to one another. But huddling together caused a curious problem. The quills of each porcupine began to wound the one next to them.

After awhile it was decided that it would be better to distance themselves from one another. However, it was too cold and one by one they began to die alone and frozen. So the remaining team of porcupines made a choice; either they accept the quills of their companions or succumb to death. 

Wisely they each made the decision to huddle back together. Though it wasn't easy, they learned to make it work and meet their goal to survive the winter in warmth. 

No team is perfect; no family is either. We all have our differences and our own expectations that we bring with us. Sometimes we get on each other’s nerves and sometimes we let others differences effect our performance. Truly successful teams understand these differences, but they also embrace, admire, and celebrate the strengths of their team members.

Just as the story and quote above stated, let’s not die alone in the cold because we could not accept other’s differences; let’s celebrate the beautiful roses and forget the thorns. Problems will arise. It won’t be easy to get around them sometimes, but if we look for the good in each other and celebrate the good and positive things happening all around us, your teams and our community will be better off because of it!

I hope you stay warm as the harsh winter gives way to the beauty of spring, but I also hope you can celebrate the beauty all around you during this time of year. You will never have this time in your life again, so live it to its fullest. I know you will be glad you did.

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* This article was originally printed in the Sunday, February 2, 2014 issue

of The Chronicle's"Planting Seeds" column.