Who is packing your parachute?
Major Tom was a Jet Pilot. Once, in a combat mission, his fighter plane was destroyed by a missile. He, however, ejected himself and parachuted safely. He won many acclaims and rewards for his heroics.
Major Tom was a Jet Pilot. Once, in a combat mission, his fighter plane was destroyed by a missile. He, however, ejected himself and parachuted safely. He won many acclaims and rewards for his heroics.
Many years later, on a summer day, Major Tom was sitting with his wife in a restaurant when a man from another table came to him and asked, “You’re Major Tom! Aren’t you? You flew jet planes and were the finest Jet Pilots of our nation!”
“How in the world did you know that?” asked Major Tom.
“I packed your parachute, and kept it in your plane every day”, the man smiled and replied.
Major Tom gasped in surprise and gratitude and thought, “If this man had not packed my parachute that day, I would not be here today.”
Major Tom could not sleep that night. Thinking about that man, he wondered, “How many times I might have seen him and not even once I said ‘Good morning’, or ‘how are you?’ or ‘I appreciate what you are doing’, or anything, just because, I was a fighter pilot and that person was an ordinary safety worker.”
Major Tom made a promise to himself that the next morning he will meet that guy and personally thank him for packing his parachute.
So friends, take a moment out of your busy life and think about who is packing your parachute?
In order to survive, we need many kinds of parachutes everyday– we need the physical parachute, the mental parachute, the emotional parachute, and the spiritual parachute and there are countless people who pack these parachutes for us, they may be our parents, our friends, our life partner or just a random guy from our work whom we don’t even know.
Sometimes, in the daily challenges that life throws at us, we miss what is really important.
We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, we may fail to congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them.
So, take some time out from your busy life and appreciate the people who pack your parachutes every single day.
