The Speaker shared with the 139 graduates four techniques to tackle failure, drawing from his own experience of failing in the 2011 Representative elections but winning in 2017 when he tried again.
Marshall, Margibi County – House Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa has urged the 2024 graduating class of the Adventist University of West Africa (AUWA) not to fear failure but to remain optimistic, as the true essence of optimism is ‘failing and trying again.’
Speaking as the 10th Commencement Speaker on Thursday at the AUWA main campus in Margibi County, Speaker Koffa told the graduates that despite receiving a quality education from a Christian-based university, they might still encounter failures because life is not always a bed of roses.
“Maybe no one has told you young leaders that in life, no matter what you do or don’t do or what your parents or your community give you, you will fail at something at some point. If you are not optimistic, this will put you off and cause you to stop trying, and in the end, you will stay down.
“Just as when you were learning to walk, you fell many times like we all did, but today you are moving about as confident adults. Get used to failure, don’t be afraid of it; rather, learn from it, be optimistic, have the faith to try again, and the world will be yours; Liberia will one day honor you, or maybe it will be the world that will honor you,” Speaker Koffa told the graduates.
The Speaker shared with the 139 graduates four techniques to tackle failure, drawing from his own experience of failing in the 2011 Representative elections but winning in 2017 when he tried again.
“Let me tell you the secret when you fail because I myself have failed. The first thing is not to beat yourself up. Reflect on your failures and why you failed, but don’t try to force open a door that God has closed – just reflect on why you failed, lift yourself up, be optimistic, and try again.”
Meanwhile, Speaker Koffa advised the graduates never to put themselves in situations they cannot afford to walk away from and to embrace failure as a step towards success.
“Be very optimistic and put yourself in that position. If some of us look at our failures and look at where we are today, at the moment we failed, if we hadn’t been optimistic, things could have been different. So carry that into your heart – carry that optimism; I don’t want to leave you with any impression that there are beds of roses ahead of you – ahead of you are troublesome times to make life; some of you will raise a family, some of you will be examples in society, some of you will be great men and women; embrace that, work for that, study for that and be one of the few Liberians that strive to make this country better.”
A total of 139 students earned their first degrees in 15 disciplines, including Biology, Computer Science, Public Health, Nursing, Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, Secondary Education, Theology, Accounting, Banking & Finance, International Relations, Human Resource Management, Public Administration, Management, and Criminal Justice Administration.
