THE OGRE CHRISTENED 'NEARLY'

I had my first taste of failure in an examination one year into my professional journey. By fate, I found in myself in the Systems And Control (SYSCON) Department of a Tier-1 Bank. I had always fancied the idea of adding layers of work-related certifications as I climbed on the rungs of my career ladder.?

Expectedly, I registered for the Certified Information Systems Auditor (C.I.S.A) Examinations. After shelling out $450 (this was in 2007), failure was never an option. I prepared like my entire being revolved around the examination. For over five months, my daily routine was drenched in the vicious desire to ace the exam at my first attempt.?

I went into the examination hall with modest confidence. The examination lasted for about 2 hours or so. I attempted all the multiple-choice questions in all the Modules within the stipulated time.?

A few weeks later, I received an email notifying me of my scores. I had an aggregate score of 441 which was 9 marks short of the cut off score of 450. Some cold shivers burrowed down my spine. I felt my heart hit my rib cage with indescribable palpitations.?

As the virulent emotions began to simmer, the unforgiving reality began to set in. 'I nearly passed' were the words that slipped out my now numb lips.?

My career path took a detour from becoming a CISA not because of the first and final failed attempt but my transitioning into the Business Development side of my professional career.?

For every international certification I had aced afterwards, that singular experience became a booster of some sort.?

The experience taught me that there was a gulf difference between 'I nearly passed' and 'I failed'. Whilst the latter comes with benign sense of closure, the latter subtly regurgitates the painful feeling of missing the mark by the whiskers.?

Our life is a journey of troughs and crests. Betwixt these asymmetric trajectories are a web of 'near misses' aka the 'Nearly Syndrome'.

We live in a world brutally shaped, defined and rewarded by results. There are no medals for efforts. Near misses exist in the realm of efforts.

Arguably, the efforts and energies dissipated by a candidate who scored 49% may be the same as the candidate who scored 10% in the same examination with a cut off score of 50%. However, the harsh reality is, both students failed to score the minimum requirement score.?

In football, a multitude of missed chances will NEVER aggregate to a goal (even if it is an own goal). The game of football aptly underscores the futility of near misses.?

An unexamined life is a life replete with near misses.?

Nearly means nothing!