A Successful Failure! - A Short Story By Bala Yahaya

Failure is painful. It is even more painful in a situation whereby one has put in his very best towards achieving the targeted goal. It becomes all the more frustrating where one’s future seemingly depends on the failed effort. This could, perhaps, never be truer than in academics as it concerns a serious, unrelenting student who experiences a supposedly undeserved failure. The fear of failure could be enormous and mind shattering. This perhaps explains my experiences the night before the release of my final semester examination results.

The night had been a quite restless one with many pleasant and not-so-pleasant dreams that all ended up leaving one in serious confusion as to how to predict the outcome of the final semester examinations which were to be released the next morning. Success in the examinations meant looking ahead for NYSC posting and if nothing else, one could boast of being a degree holder in a society where much premium is being put on paper qualification. Failure on the other hand, meant having to spend an extra year of painful waiting while the world continues with its journey.

I woke up early in the morning, said my early morning prayers, took my bath, had my breakfast, and headed for the school with a rather pessimistic mind. The jittery look I wore portrayed me like a murder suspect awaiting the Judge’s verdict on the last day of his trial. On entering the department, the first person I saw was my friend and course mate Ahmed. The look on his face gave me the impression that that all was not well. The fact that I had seen him approach from the direction of the scoreboard, made the cause of his sober look predictable. I composed myself, cleared my throat and asked “Ahmed how did it go? But he was in no good mood to offer a reply. He simply shook his head, tears oozing out of his eyes. The reality dawned on me when I picked up courage and walked to the board to check my result myself. I failed in three core subjects. My friend Ahmed also failed the same courses. Was that a fair reward for our total commitment and resolve to pass these courses excellently? Certainly not.

After coming to terms with reality, I thought about different options on what to do with my life. I had decided that the academic field is not meant for people like me. Yes, people who understand what they are being taught but fail because they lack the talent of self-expression. Nay, the field is for those who would read a subject if only overnight, grasp the gist, pour it on the pages of answer booklets and hurray, they are graduates! Or worse still, those who would go to any length including bastardizing their God-given dignity just to graduate. And more calamitously, they would be described on the convocation day as having ‘excelled in character and learning’. Well…may be learning but certainly not character! Is examination really a true test of knowledge? I doubt!

After a careful assessment and reassessment of myself, I settled for the mechanic job. I thought it would be a good vocation for me being a student of Mechanical Engineering. When I intimated my parents with my decision, I received mixed reactions. While Mum kicked against it saying that it was not her portion to produce a half-baked Engineer, Baba assented to the suggestion on the condition that I would simultaneously make efforts to remedy my academic problems and eventually graduate. I accepted the condition and apprenticed myself to “God Dey Mechanic Workshop” – a renowned workshop in the outskirts of the town. My background knowledge from School did a lot of wonders for me; for in no time, I became one of the favoured apprentices in the workshop due to what my master called my hard work, commitment and easy understanding. He was so proud of me that he promised to offer me substantial help whenever I ‘graduated’ from the training and was ready to set up my own workshop. Mr. Ajala had indeed made good his promise because he ensured that he put me on a sound footing to operate successfully on my own. He went an extra mile to direct a large chunk of his customers to me.  I will ever remain indebted to him.

As years rolled by, I became a proud owner of a very big and successful mechanic workshop employing not less than 30 people and many apprentices. Recently, we engaged in a diversification of our investment and won dealership of a major automobile company. Ours is indeed a success story. The irony of it all did not occur to me until when last year I received some students from the University who came to request for Industrial attachment placement in our organisation.

I was even more surprised when, at the expiration of their internship with us, the University authorities sent us a letter of commendation expressing their gratitude for the knowledge imparted to their students and looking forward to our cooperation in accommodating more of such students in the future.

This experience has had a tremendous impact on my perception about life generally. It has taught me that there is no cloud without a silver lining. And that a failure is only a failure, when he allows failure to make him a failure.