You know those emails that go around-and-around? The ones that are 'forwarded' from here, there and what seems like everywhere.
They come in every form.
There are the sayings that someone has spent a lengthy amount of time typing out, formatting properly, positioning specifically and coloring carefully. The sayings that take seconds to read, but took someone hours to make.
There are the power point presentations that take over your screen, accompanied by music that takes over your speakers. There are images that have been put through Photoshop frontwards, backwards and sideways until the original is replaced by a mystical image.
There are the quizzes that you fill out about yourself that detail your personal preferences in life...ketchup or mustard...chocolate or vanilla...cup half-full or half-empty. These surveys often lend themselves even further to questions such as "what color of underwear are you wearing right now? All of these in an attempt 'to get to know each other better?'
And then there are the chain letters. Oh, the chain letters. The "if you do not send this letter to at least ten of your closest friends, your computer will be overtaken by yellow monsters that will hack into your computer, take all of your personal information, turn you into a monster... And as a result, you will never meet the love of your life or have children, and your cousin six-times removed will stub his toe in two hours on his kitchen table, therefore breaking his toe and having to spend four hours in the emergency room waiting to see a doctor.
While I may poke fun at these forwards, there are times that I have completed a survey as a result of boredom or procrastination. And I am one to enjoy filling out a survey with witty remarks that will make the reader laugh out loud.
And I too, have passed on a good saying, but only after deleting the chain letter consequences that accompany it. Talk about luck or consequences! That can't be good! And I definitely am one to pass on an informational email about a recall on a baby food item or on `what drowning really looks like`.
I must say that as my university days came to a close, so too did the majority of the forwards I received. It seems as though I received these 'forwards' most often when I was in university, or when my friends and I were experts of procrastination.
My email inbox these days seems more likely to be the recipient of an email from a friend or information from one of the organizations I belong to. And to be honest, I truly like a good forward or an email that makes me laugh.
Recently, I received a powerpoint presentation that told a story about a man that had spent six years in a communist Vietnamese prison. Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot whose plane was shot down during his 75th mission. As a result, Plumb ejected and parachuted into what happened to be enemy hands. Imprisoned and tortured for what ended up being 2,013 days, Plumb survived the ordeal and has gone on to speak to more than 4,500 audiences.
But the email provided further details...
......"One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table 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. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!"
Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today." Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers. 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"......
Plumb, who continues to speak to audiences throughout the world, now asks a different question of his audiences after that chance meeting. There are people in our lives that provide us with what we need to make it through the day, sometimes without us even recognizing it or thanking them.
So, as the result of a 'forward,' in honour of Captain J. Charles Plumb, and a question that we should all probably ask ourselves a little more often...
"Who's packing your parachute?"
