Story Contest 2017 #1 - Outstanding Stories » Failures are the Steps of Success

“Failures are the Steps of Success” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2017 written by Fatima Tus Zehra, Saudi Arabia.

Failures are the Steps of Success

Aamina was sitting in her room. Her eyes were full of tears. She was feeling so depressed. Once again her team didn’t win any game on sports day. In all monthly tests she got very low marks. Whenever she tried to get any certificate; she faced failure. I am a loser. I cannot win anything. Everyone is better than me. She cried to herself.

Next day when she went to school, she was quite. She didn’t talk to anyone and she didn’t play at break time. Her teacher was observing her. She sat with her and asked.

‘What is the matter Aamina? Why you are so upset’.

She didn’t reply but tears were shedding from her eyes. Her teacher hugged her and said.

‘You can share all your problems with me. I am always here to help you’.

‘I feel like I am a loser. I try my level best but I don’t succeed in any of my games or studies. It seems that I will never get anything that I wish.’

Aamina shared all her feelings with her teacher. Her teacher listened calmly and she gave a very sweet smile. She wiped the tears from her face and said.

‘Aamina, do you watch cartoons? Do you know who WALT DISNEY was? He is the master mind behind DISNEY LAND, but in the beginning of his career he was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. He was so upset at that moment. Maybe he thought like you but he didn’t give up and later on he became famous for his innovative ideas. Similarly Albert Einstein the great scientist was called intellectually slow by his teacher. He was not very smart during his school days. In his childhood he started speaking and writing very late but he continued his journey and became a great scientist. Likewise Thomas Edison the inventor of light bulb was terminated from his school for very low grades in class. After dismissal from school, his mother taught him and made him believe that you are not slow but your way to do things is different. He listened to his mother and kept working hard and at last he succeeded.’

The teacher stopped for a while and tried to observe the Aamina’s expressions. It seemed like Aamina got the answer to her questions.

‘Do you still think that you cannot do anything?’

Aamina replied, ‘No teacher, I got it. Whenever we face failure we should not give up and we should try again and again.’

‘Yes Aamina you are absolutely right. In every person’s life there comes a time when he/she faces failures. The difference is only the duration of this hard phase. The need is only that you don’t give up and keep trying to find the path of success because the path of success is hidden somewhere between the failures and hardships. People who continuously try definitely achieve success.

Aamina was looking satisfied as her kind teacher showed her the right path to success.