Points to Ponder

Tuesday November 25, 2008

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Happy 2007

Occasionally friends send us emails that have jokes, other times they have real messages.   When I owned my dive store and was editing my own web site I used to post these under Editorial Comments.  To be honest I missed sharing these gems with my friends.   So I hope the following items will be of interest to you.

If you would like to add to these items please send me an email at TheScubaLady

 
 
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Parrot Fish Aid in Reef Repair - link courtesy of Kevin F 11/03/2007
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Parachute  Packing    

From my Friend Bruce Longman who retired about a year ago from being a rep for several fine lines of dive equipment and is now enjoying the good life with his wife Sue at their home in Florida. August 2007


 Charles Plumb was a USN Navy jet pilot in Vietnam.  After 75 combat  missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!

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 thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long  wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate  of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need, to make it through the day. He also points out that he needed many kinds  of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory -- He  needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional  parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called 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 people who pack your parachutes.

I am sending you this as my way of thanking you  for your part in packing my parachute in life. And I hope you will send it on to those who have helped pack yours!

Sometimes, we  wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without writing a word.  Maybe this could explain it: When you are very busy, but still want to  keep in touch, guess what you do -- you forward jokes. And to let you know that you  are still remembered, you are still important, you are still loved, you  are still cared for, guess what you get? A forwarded  joke.

So my friend, next time when you get a joke, don't think that you've been sent is just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today, and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile, ... just helping you pack your  parachute.
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From Kevin Fourman, fellow diver about Shark Finning in the Galapagos
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Stop Shark Finning In Galapagos NOW

received this message and wanted to pass it on to all divers.

"Dear Kevin,

This is a special "ocean conservation" email from Peter Hughes Diving to inform you of a very recent change (July 30, 2007) in Ecuador law that now allows the legal sale and exportation of shark fins and products. The practice had been banned in all of Ecuador until July 30th.

In short, this change opens the legal door to shark over-fishing and the even more despicable practice of "shark finning" (just cutting off the fins and throwing the body of shark, sometimes still alive, back into the sea to die) in Ecuador.


Ecuador, of course, is also home to one of the world's most unique archipelagoes, Charles Darwin's fabled Galapagos Islands. If you have visited the Galapagos, you have already experienced the thriving populations of Hammerheads, Galapagos Sharks, Whale Sharks, and multiple species of rays, just to name a few.

If you have not visited the Galapagos, you have certainly heard about it, and for many divers the Galapagos is very near or on the top of their "Must Travel" list.

Worldwide, there is almost universal agreement that the Galapagos must be protected for future generations. Above and below water.


 
bullet Distressing News From Laurel Sheppard fellow diver, public relations specialist and good friend with regard to environmental issues affecting all of us.

I think all dive manufacturers, dive shops, dive instructors etc should donate part of their sales to conservation efforts of the ocean. After all if there are no coral reefs to dive they won't have much of a business!! Of course divers should do the same, I donate to Ocean Conservancy and others on a regular basis. My last two cars I donated to charity auction were designated to several marine conservation organizations, Mike's SUV as well.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/080807EA.shtml
Jeremy Laurance, The Independent UK, writes, "After more than 20 million years on the planet, the Yangtze river dolphin is today officially declared extinct, the first species of cetacean to be driven from this planet by human activity."

Coral Reefs Dying Faster Than Expected
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/080807EB.shtml
The Associated Press reports, "Coral reefs in much of the Pacific Ocean are dying faster than previously thought, according to a study released Wednesday, with the decline driven by climate change, disease and coastal development."

 

This site was last updated 11/03/07