When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?”

The generation of Afghan children whose ears would know nothing but the sounds of bombs and gunfire was not yet born.

I see how universal some human experiences are: shame, guilt, regret, friendship, love, forgiveness, atonement.

I brought Hassan’s son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in a turmoil of uncertainty.

That Hassan would grow up illiterate like Ali and most Hazaras had been decided the minute he had been born, perhaps even the moment he had been conceived

that’s the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

longhaired men and women we always saw hanging

that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.

classical ghazal by Ustad Sarahang.