Failure will never outtake you, if your determination to succeed is strong enough.
Dr. A.P.G Abdul Kalam
Just finishing a huge examination where almost half of the students in our batch failed, me, as a barely passed one, got to mentor a student who was re-sitting for the exam. She had missed the passing mark with just a few points and had to retake all three subjects. And I asked what happened to her, whether she was unable to study enough, or whether she was. was stressed during the exams. She told me that she worked hard, that she got to cover the majority of the topics and she was in good mental health while she sat for the exams.
I was devastated, because I didn’t know what to say to a person who had no legit reason for her failure. There was nothing I needed to fix or work on. I realized that if I was her, I would be too hopeless to even try again. I would be depressed and self loathing at the fact that I wasn’t unable to get results even though I did my best. So I asked again,
“Don’t you feel terrible at the fact that you failed even though you worked hard?”
“I may fail again,” She replied. “But I want to do my best before that. I will do it again and again, and keep trying until I succeed. I’m capable of that”
I was speechless, to see such a declaration of courage, right in front of my eyes. She instantly became my idol, for displaying such a strength I have never had in my life. And it was not all words either. I got to see her working hard again, despite the possibility of failure. I was amazed to see how she pushed through exhausting days and rather low marks on mock tests.
Even though it is an attribute that is commonly admired in the mainstream, “courage” is actually hard to come by and it requires a tremendous amount of strength and effort to simply get up when you fall.
I’m writing this article before she sits for the exam, therefore I wouldn’t get to present you with the result. But all I know is that one needs to summon all the energy in the universe to stand up after falling and every step she takes forward is worthy of a thousand rounds of applause.
