”Who at the best knows in the end of the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he/she fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt
The Story
It’s middle of the night and you’re standing in front of a dark jungle. You’re about to enter the jungle among a group of hundred people, and you all share the same goal: to reach the other side where lies a great treasure. The cold truth is that only a few of the group of hundred ever make it to treasure. What makes this treasure so valuable? Usually anything that is very difficult to achieve is perceived as valuable. Having 1 million dollars in one’s bank account is considered valuable because it’s very hard to achieve. Having hundred dollars on the bank account is not considered as valuable because it’s rather easy to have. That is what makes the treasure so valuable: there are a lot of people who want the treasure, but only a few will ever achieve it.
Getting the treasure is not an easy task and I’m sure you know that jungle is a dangerous place with all the wild animals, difficult terrains and diseases. The jungle is so dangerous that any rational man would argue that there is no point of entering the jungle. You however, see it from another perspective. You enjoy the challenge it presents, and you’re not feared of failure. If you never take any risks, it’s very difficult to achieve anything in life.
The Jungle in this short story is a metaphor for becoming a fighter pilot. Becoming one is difficult and the challenges mentioned earlier: the wild animals (cognitive tests), difficult terrains (physical fitness) and diseases (overall health) are all factors that are going to haunt you for the first day when you enter the jungle.
We at Midnight Academy believe that there is a way to help people prepare for the jungle. There are techniques to be used against wild animals, and there are ways to move better at difficult terrains. We can’t cure anyone’s colorblindness or bad vision, if we could we probably would do that too. We are looking for ways to prepare you for the jungle – if we put the hundred people in a line and try to guess who is going to make it, who do you think is going to succeed? If ninety-nine people believe in their genes to survive the jungle, but one person has committed into a one-year training for how-to-survive in the jungle – would you put your bet on that person?
Will you find the hidden treasure?