Packing the Professional and Educational Parachutes

Excerpt below by Charlie Plumb



Recently, I was sitting in a restaurant in Kansas City. A man about two tables away kept looking at me. I didn't recognize him. A few minutes into our meal he stood up and walked over to my table, looked down at me, pointed his finger in my face and said, "You're Captain Plumb."
I looked up and I said, "Yes sir, I'm Captain Plumb."
He said, "You flew jet fighters in Vietnam. You were on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down. You parachuted into enemy hands and spent six years as a prisoner of war."
I said, "How in the world did you know all that?"
He replied, "Because, I packed your parachute."
I was speechless. I staggered to my feet and held out a very grateful hand of thanks. This guy came up with just the proper words. He grabbed my hand, he pumped my arm and said, "I guess it worked."

"Yes sir, indeed it did", I said.

I didn't get much sleep that night. I kept thinking about that man. I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform - a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back and bell bottom trousers. I wondered how many times I might have passed him on board the Kitty Hawk. I wondered 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. How many hours did he spend on that long wooden table in the bowels of that ship weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of those chutes? I could have cared less...until one day my parachute came along and he packed it for me.

So the philosophical question here is this: How's your parachute packing coming along? Who looks to you for strength in times of need? And perhaps, more importantly, who are the special people in your life who provide you the encouragement you need when the chips are down? Plumb also points out that we all need many kinds of parachutes within our daily life (e.g., mental, emotional, collegial parachutes). While a prisoner of war, Plumb called on all of these supports before reaching safety. His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead -- and to recognize and appreciate all of those people who pack our parachutes everyday.

So, how does this story relate to the NCEU website or education. I truly believe that as educators we are charged with packing the educational parachutes for our students. The job is important and can be life altering. However, the job transcends any one discipline or individual. Because the task of educating our children is such an essential objective on a social, economic, and global scale, educators need to recognize that we not only pack the parachutes of our students, but need our own “professional and educational” parachutes safely packed. To do the job right, we need to help each other and respect what each discipline brings to the table. Lloyd Dobens once stated, “It is not a question of how well each process works, the question is how well they all work together.” My hope is that this website provides the table to help pack all of the educational parachutes that are needed to better serve our student populations.