Failure is Not an Option
Shortly before I began USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training at Columbus AFB in Columbus, MS, that base experienced one of the greatest tragedies in the history of that pilot training squadron: a four-ship collision between four T-38 jet trainers performing formation maneuvers. Of the six men onboard the four aircraft, five were killed instantly. Only one man, a student pilot, managed to eject.
After ejection, his parachute was supposed to open automatically. It did not.
He pulled the D-ring to manually deploy the chute. Although the chute deployed, it became tangled in its own lines. The parachute didn’t fully inflate. It formed what is termed a “Mae West”. (If you don’t understand the reference, let’s just say that Mae West was a rather buxom movie star in the early era of talking motion pictures.) In other words, the chute wasn’t going to slow the pilot’s descent enough to save his life.
As USAF aviators, we were trained that, in this situation, we were to use the hook knife in our G-suit to cut up to four of our parachute lines in an attempt to untangle a parachute. The student pilot did so. One at a time, he cut the maximum of four parachute cords. However, this didn’t solve the problem. The chute didn’t inflate and he was still dropping toward a fatal collision with the ground.
He tugged and pulled at the remaining parachute lines, trying desperately to untangle the chute. Still, he had no luck.
But he continued to fight.
He looked down at the ground and thought to himself, “Those trees are getting really big.” He knew he had mere seconds remaining.
He tugged and kicked with all his might.
The chute inflated. He swung once as the parachute slowed his fall.
Then he hit the ground.
The trees he had seen were actually bushes.
If he had not continued to fight until the very last second, if he had given up, he would not have survived.
After today’s broadcast of “Music and the Spoken Word,” the associate musical director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Ryan Murphy, suddenly paused rehearsing to tell us a story. I don’t remember why he did it, but the story itself really stuck with me. He reminded us that President David O. McKay was often quoted as saying, “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.” [General Conference, April, 1935, repeated in April, 1964.] (Although many people assume that the quote originated with the prophet, President McKay was actually quoting James Edward McCulloh’s “Home: The Savior of Civilization” [1924, The Southern Co-operative League].) Brother Murphy then told us that, about two weeks after that famous conference address, President McKay was speaking at a meeting for seminary teachers. He was asked, “What constitutes ‘failure in the home’?” The prophet immediately replied, “Failure in the home only occurs when the parents give up.” I can’t find a source for this quote, but President Harold B. Lee (who was President McKay’s first counselor) said something very similar (and I have the source for that): “Remember, paraphrasing what President McKay said, ‘No success will compensate for failure in the home.’ Remember also that no home is a failure as long as that home doesn’t give up.” [Ensign, February, 1972]
Well, that gives me hope. You see, when it comes to my family, I am as stubborn as they come.
I will never give up.
