What is Destiny
--Book Review – “The Kite Runner”
It is written. Life is full of love and hate.
This is destiny. No one can escape destiny.
So is Hassan. And Amir. And Ali and Baba.
What is destiny?
Destiny is that Hassan and Amir were fed from the same breasts. They took their first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. There was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break. Destiny is that under the same roof, they spoke their first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name. The foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975—and all that followed—was already laid in those first words.
Destiny is that Amir was a Pashtun and Hassan was a Hazara, Amir was Sunni and Hassan was Shi’a. History can’t be overcome easily. And nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing. Destiny is that they were kids who had learned to crawl together. And no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either.
Destiny is that Hassan was always chased on the street by the other kids and given the nickname “flat-nosed” as his characteristic Hazara Mongoloid features. But he never ever fights back. Because he was true to his nature: He was incapable of hurting anyone. Destiny is that neighborhood boys were never too kind to Amir. Because he was a friend of this Hazara, this Flat-Nose here, whose people polluted Afghanistan, the homeland of Pashtuns. Afghanistan for Pashtuns. They say. Rid Afghanistan of all the dirty Hazaras. That’s their vision.
What is destiny?
Destiny is that Ali and Baba grew up as childhood playmates and Hassanand Amir grew up together a generation later. They spent entire winters flying kites, running kites.The old lift-and-dive, Hassan’s favorite trick. Destiny is that in none of his stories did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend and Amir never thought of Hassan as friend in the usual sense either. Destiny is that Baba slept with Ali’s wife and Amir framed Hassan for stealing. Destiny is that both of them betrayed the people who would have given their lives for them. Like father, like son.
Destiny is that Baba said to Amir man to man There is only one sin. That is theft. When you tell a lie, you stealsomeone’s right to the truth and all those years he has been a thief of the worst kind, stealing from Amir the right to know he had a brother, from Hassanhis identity, from Ali his honor. Destiny is that Baba was always hard on himself, redeeming himself by feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need. He was a man torn between two halves, unable to love Hassan openly, and as a father. And when he saw Amir, he saw himself. And his guilt. Destiny is that Amir was also hard on himself, being a tortured soul just like Baba. He suffered and yearned for Baba’s affections. He has been peeking into that deserted alley for a thousand times. He saw Hassan being raped. And his guilt. And what true redemption is, when guilt leads to good, according to Buddhism. Buddhists believe in reincarnation. If you do something bad, your soul will betortured and should make redemption for the bad things. Good, real good, was born out of Baba’s remorse. And also Amir’s.
What is destiny?
Destiny is that in the childhood Hassan protected Amir and twenty-five years later Amir made all the way to save Hassan’s son. Destiny is that to protect Amir, Hassan held the slingshot pointed directly at Assef’s face with Assef promising he’d get them one on one and a few days later he raped Hassan, twenty-five years later he fought with Amir. Destiny is that Hassan and Amir were enemies of Assef and twenty-five years later Assef sexually abused Hassan’s son. Destiny is that Hassan with his slingshot saying that they’d have to call him “one-eye Assef” and twenty-five years later Hassan’s son made him “one-eye Assef” with his slingshot. Destiny is that Amir beat Hassan to let him provoke and twenty-five years later to save Hassan’s son, Amir was beaten by Assef, feeling healed.
Destiny is that to Amir, the face of Afghanistan was that of a boy with a thin-boned frame, a shaved head, and low-set ears, a boy with a Chinesedoll face perpetually lit by a harelipped smile. Destiny is that when Amir met Sohrab, it was the Chinese doll face of his childhood.
Destiny is that twenty-five years ago Amir made his own mistakes andtwenty-five years later he came back to atone his sin. And also Baba’s. Destiny is that in his childhood dreams Amir dreamt about Baba wrestling the bear, unable to tell Baba from the bear and years later Amir saw that it was he that was wrestling the bear, instead of Baba. That bear was themselves. And their sins.
What is destiny?
Destiny is that beneath a cherry tree Amir toyed with Hassan, asking him if he would chew dirt to prove his loyalty and years later Amir became theone under the microscope, the one who had to prove his worthiness to Hassan’s son Sohrab. Destiny is that flying kites was Hassan and Amir’s favorite and it was also the only way to melt the snow in Hassan’s son Sohrab’s heart. Destiny is that in the end, God will forgive. Amir will forgive Baba, and himself. And Sohrab will forgive Amir.
Destiny is that Amir has heard these words for three times: For you, a thousand times over. The first time was after the kite tournament in winter of 1975, Hassan ran the last kite for Amir, with his classic smile. The second was twenty-five years later Amir was badly injured and asked Farid to help find Sohrab. The third was when Amir was flying kites with Sohrab, seeing for the first time Sohrab smiled, then running kites for him. These words have hit Amir like a hard fist, harder and harder. Showing him the essence of dedication. Torturing him with the essence of dedication.
What is destiny?
Destiny is that if you are born an Afghan, then you should learn your first lesson of being quiet to protect yourself. There is no use of crying over the country’s terrible situations. No one is going to help you out. You have to stay quiet. But it’s not called quiet, but silence. Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the OFF button. Shutting it down. All of it.
Destiny is that if you are born an Afghan, then you are definitely good at fighting and running kites. By good, I mean really good. As it is your old fashion in your great old days. It is your way of showing how gallant you are. Showing your appreciation of the braveness. Showing your vitality, vigor, hope. Showing your longing to survive in the distorted society. Showing your oppressed nation desperately getting back on its feet. Destiny is that it was banned by Taliban in 1996, killing your braveness. Killing your sympathy. Killing your sense of national pride. Killing your confidence in your homeland’s promising future.
Destiny is that if you are born an Afghan, then you can be a Hassan or an Amir. You can be one of them flying and running a kite on the land of Afghanistan. The land full of religious belief and genuine passion. The land full of cruel wars and non-interval conflicts. Conflicts within the country and between the countries. Conflicts between different rations, religions, and cultures. And eternally ethnic cleansing.
Destiny is that if you are born an Afghan, then you may suffer from severe poverty. You are born with that and you will pass it from generation to generation. Because this is what your country is. A week country. Both in economics and in politics. Not to mention military. And a week country can’t have its voice in the world. This is where you grow up. You may work hard, but to find that you can’t even support yourself. Let alone your family. It’s a vicious cycle. And this is how the charity and volunteering work help. Some really fancy charity programs. They donate computer equipment, build networks instead of offering food, laundry machine. Some really helpless volunteer programs. They raise money and donate to you, without caring how the money is being used.
Destiny is that if you are born an Afghan, then you may die for your belief. It’s called“Ethnic Cleansing”. There are things that worth someone’s life to protect. Like pride in your people, your customs, your language. Afghanistan is like a beautiful mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out that garbage. Destiny isthat when you take someone’s life because of their belief, then they deserve to die. You call it a message from God. But I call it cruelty.
Destiny is that if you are born an Afghan and happen to be a Hazara, then you may be involved in the massacre. It is the hatred between nations. The Hazara suffered great persecution from the Pashtun. So they stood up and fought. Then their rebellion was put down. And then went back and forth. And then hatred. And then inequality.
Destiny is that if you are not born a human, but an animal, then you should be really careful every day. Because if human beings are cruel to humans, then how good can you expect that they can be to you? If you are a fish, then you may be full of cancers because of the chemicals in the water. If you are a bird, then you may bump against a lighthouse or skyscraper. If you are a bear, then you may end up dead with a tube in your gall bladder. If you are a salmon, then you may be the last one in the world. This is your destiny. Is it?
Is it really what destiny is? Should you be killed because of your nation? Or because of your belief? Or your gender? Should an animal be used because it’s just an animal?
No. It’s unfair. Everyone is born to be who they are, every animal is born to be what it is and it’s the beginning that no one can change. But what we can change is the way we treat them. Everyone is equal in the world. And when we say equal, we mean that every child can go to school worthy of their potential. That every woman can enjoy the same respect as men do.That every people can have the same opportunity to achieve their dreams. Sometimes, people just use destiny as an excuse of treating you unequally.
So what is destiny now?
Destiny is another name for something in human nature. Friendship. Love. Responsibility. Honesty. Loyalty. Freedom.
Destiny is the kindness even in the most extreme situations, thelight in the darkest time, the hope in the most upsetting moments.
Destiny is a cycle of love and hate. A cycle of lies, betrayals,secrets and atonement.
But there is a way to be good again. To end this cycle.
Life is not a Hindi movie. Afghans like to say: Life goes on, unmindful of beginning end, crisis ofcatharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis.
出自Sophia 喵小姐
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