And the Mountains Echoed

by Khaled Hosseini

I suspect the truth is that we are waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.

They say, Find a purpose in your life and live it. But, sometimes, it is only after you have lived that you recognize your life had a purpose, and likely one you never had in mind.

I know now that some people feel unhappiness the way others love: privately, intensely, and without recourse.

I learned that the world didn’t see the inside of you, that it didn’t care a whit about the hopes and dreams, and sorrows, that lay masked by skin and bone. It was as simple, as absurd, and as cruel as that.