The Monk of Mokha

by Dave Eggers

Mokhtar is both humble before the history he inhabits and irreverent about his place in it.

And how these bridgemakers exquisitely and bravely embody this nation’s reason for being, a place of radical opportunity and ceaseless welcome. And how when we forget that this is central to all that is best about this country, we forget ourselves—a blended people united not by stasis and cowardice and fear, but by irrational exuberance, by global enterprise on a human scale, by the inherent rightness of pressing forward, always forward, driven by courage unfettered and unyielding.

Keep the money in your hand, never in your heart.

He started with a SWOT chart—any serious endeavor in 2013 started with a SWOT chart.

He had had a dream, and dreams are heavy things, requiring constant care and pruning. Now his dream was gone, and he walked the streets like a man without anything to lose.