People in the countryside carry a sense of dignity. They wear it, don't they? Like a badge? I'm being genuine.

But then it passed, as all things do.

Perhaps this is just punishment for those who have been heartless, to understand only when nothing can be undone.

It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn't make everything all right. It didn't make ANYTHING all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing. A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird's flight. But I'll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting. - Amir

I'm sorry," Laila says, marveling at how every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet, she sees, people find a way to survive, to go on.

I read actual physical books and have thus far avoided the electronic lure.

Human behavior is messy and unpredictable and unconcerned with convenient symmetries.