Good Morning my dear friends on this second day of the New Year as we gradually take baby steps in 2022. New things, new places, new experiences all are a bit strange as we have unfamiliarity with them so we are very tentative about what lies in store and we sort of expect the unexpected. So as 2022 unfolds, we are mentally bracing for the unexpected to unfold.
But the New Year is a time to think about good things, pleasant things and things and incidents from which we can learn valuable lessons which we can implement in our own lives and make our lives better. So as usual, the University of Whatsapp Forwards keeps throwing up occasional gems which are too hard to resist for me as I feel the learning from them is too valuable to not share with my dear readers. So here is another anecdote from one of the forwards whose original author in unknown but credited with this piece.
The incident goes that in a combat mission Air Commodore Vishal Abuja’s 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 Air Commodore 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 the 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 safety worker”
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, the spiritual parachute & the Financial 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.
J I just want to THANK Everyone who Packed my parachute this year in 2021 one way or the other – through your words, deeds, prayers. Cheers for 2022… J J
Be Positive and Stay Blessed.
Dr. Rajesh Mankani
