“Why do we have to be so cruel to each other? Why is our pain made softer when we inflict it on others? Why is this world so much less than what it ought to be or what we can imagine? Why did God give us these imaginations if all they do is point us at a country we can never reach, and we’ll never see? Why is everything such a disappointment? Why is love the best and worst disease? But let this be a lesson, life is only disappointing if there’s nothing after it. Otherwise, life is our time in a craftsman’s hands. The way a piece of wood is carved into a spoon by a carpenter. Or reeds are woven by a basket weaver. We grow into whatever we allow to be made of us. And we’re sold like the spoon or the basket. Our afterlife isn’t the market or the workshop, it’s in the home of our master, whatever master we have spent our lives serving.”

“Death is also all around. Haunting our lives. Death is what we are all always considering somewhere in our minds. Especially the small deaths of humiliation and sadness. But wouldn’t it be nice if love was all around us, like life and death? Wouldn’t it be nice if love was inevitable like the other two? That you could be sure you’d find someone to love and to love you in return? Or a mother, or a brother, or a good friend? Wouldn’t these be the promises that made both life and death worthwhile?”

– Khosrou Nayeri