A stranger ^^

Charles Plumb was a Jet pilot in the US Navy. He went to Vietnam to fighting. But the Vietnamese army shot his Jetplane with a surface-to-air missile. His plane was destroyed in the sky. The pilot Plumb clicked the eject button, escaped from the burning flight with a parachute. But he landed in the enemy land. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He came back to the USA and started a happy life with his family.

Ten years passed. One day, Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant in Kansas City. A man at another table was staring at Plumb continuously. Plumb was confused. The man was smiling at him. Plumb was irritated and said to his wife "See that man. He was looking at me non-stop and smiling at me like an idiot."

The smiling man stood up and walked to Plumb.

The man: You worked with the US Navy. You were a Jet pilot. Am I right?

Plumb: Yes. Of course.

Plumb was surprised.

The man: You participated in 74 consecutive successful combat missions.

Plumb: Yes.

The man: On your 75th mission, your F4 Phantom fighter plane was shot down by the Vietnamese army.

Plumb: Yes.

The man: The plane exploded with some 12,000 pounds of jet fuel and collapsed in paddy fields.

Plumb: Yes. True.

The man: You parachuted into enemy territory, and you spent six years as a prisoner of war.

Plumb: Yes. Correct.

The man: You are Mr.Charles Plumb. Am I right?

Plumb: Yeah. All your words are true. But how do you know all these things? Who are you?

The man: I'm a parachute maker and a sailor. I'm the one who made a parachute and packed it in your fighter Jet plane. Did my parachute work well?

Plumb was shocked. He was dumbfounded. Plumb started thinking his Navy days. He tried to remember him. He remembered all officers, pilots and all other important people in the Navy. But he could not remember this man. Because this man was not an officer. He was just a sailor. Plumb did not care about sailors.

Plumb stood up and hugged the man and said "Yes. your parachute worked wonderfully. That's why I'm alive today and I'm happy with my family. You gave me another life. My hearty thanks to you."

Plumb and the man talked a few minutes and they left.

That night Plumb could not sleep. He was thinking deeply ---"I thought my colleagues, my officers are the only important people. But now I understood even a small worker is very important for us. I never remember the face of the sailor who packed my parachute carefully in my flight. I never told him "good morning or good evening". I never knew his name. But he saved my life. I must be thankful to him always.

Many people helped us in our lives in the past. We may not see them. We may not know their faces and names. But surely they helped us. We don't see the face of the person who cooked our food at a good restaurant. We don't see the face of the person who made our shoes. We don't see the person who made tablets and injections to save our lives. We don't know the names of drivers in buses, taxis, and trains. If we go deeper, we can write a list of more than 1 million people who helped us. Even in the future, many people will help us. But we may not see their faces. We may not know their names. We may not meet them directly. They are completely unknown to us. But they help us. We must be thankful to all the people who helped us till today. And we must have great hopes for the future because many people are ready to help us in the future.

If we think we are alone, it is a false opinion. We have many people who help us in our lives to make our lives beautiful. We should be thankful for the farmers who grew vegetables, sellers who sold vegetables to us, tailors who stitched our clothes, masons who constructed our houses, woodworkers who made doors and windows for our houses, scientists who invented TV and phones and many things ..and the list goes on. We should be daily thankful to these wonderful people. Then our lives will be filled with happiness and satisfaction.

After this realization, Plumb started loving people and the world more than before.