WHO IS PACKING YOUR PARACHUTE?

We many a times take many things for granted or think that we deserve what we enjoy in life. We tend to think, “we pay; so we get”. In fact, the more affluent we become, we tend to be helpless and hence should be thankful to the people who help us survive. Think the routine of a day: we start the day with coffee or tea – if no one plucked the coffee seed, dried and powdered it or if we go a little further to the past; if none planted the coffee and nurtured it – it is the same case with tea also (for this simple thing itself so many are involved!); from where would we have got the coffee or tea? If there is a servant in our house (we hire a servant just because we cannot do the house-hold works ourselves!), who is to be thankful to whom? Is it not we to the servant?

Air Commodore Vishal was a Jet Pilot. In a combat mission his fighter plane was destroyed by a missile. He however ejected himself and parachuted safely. He won acclaims and appreciations from many.

After five years one day he was sitting with his wife in a restaurant. A man from another table came to him and said "You're Captain Vishal! You flew jet fighters. You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Vishal.

"I packed your parachute," the man smiled and replied.

Vishal gasped in surprise and gratitude and thought if parachute hadn't worked, I wouldn’t be here today. Vishal couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. He wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, he was a fighter pilot and that person was just a Constable."

So friends, who is packing your parachute?

Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. 

We need many kinds of parachutes when our plane is shot down – we need the physical parachute, the mental parachute, the emotional parachute, and the spiritual parachute. 
We call 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 the people who pack your parachute!