I hear from non-Afghan immigrants - Africans, Indians, Pakistanis, Arabs in France - all the time. These people have had to redefine their lives, which is what my family went through when we came to the U.S. in 1980.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the challenges of immigrants who must adapt to new environments, drawing a parallel to the author's own family's experience.
Khaled Hosseini's quote highlights the resilience and adaptability required by immigrants as they navigate the complexities of a new life in a foreign land. He draws upon his own family's journey to the U.S. as a poignant example, emphasizing how many immigrants, regardless of their background, face the necessity of redefining their identities and lives to fit into a new culture.
In practice
In a speech about cultural diversity, one could quote this to illustrate the immigrant experience.
You're gutless. It's how you were made. And that's not such a bad thing because your saving grace is that you've never lied to yourself about it. Not about that. Nothing wrong with cowardice as long as it comes with prudence. But when a coward stops remembering who he is... God help him.
There was brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that even time could not break. - Amir
I don't outline at all; I don't find it useful, and I don't like the way it boxes me in. I like the element of surprise and spontaneity, of letting the story find its own way.
And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.
Perspective [is] a luxury when your head [is] constantly buzzing with a swarm of demons.
The desert weed lives on, but the flower of spring blooms and wilts.
I don't know if I found soccer or if soccer found me. Especially because when I was younger, I was doing it, in a lot of ways, because I wanted the attention of my mom and dad.
Smile with instinct, then lick your wounds in the darkest of dark corners. Trace the scars back to your own fingers and remember them.
What keeps life fascinating is the constant creativity of the soul.
I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
Learn to dance, so when you get to heaven the angels know what to do with you.
Even when you look for it, you're never prepared for it.
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