You must not waste your one life.

Mohsin Hamid argues in How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia that you only have one life and you must not waste it. Although Hamid’s book is not overtly religious, it does adopt the belief of the three major world religions that life in Heaven follows this life and that a person lives their life on Earth only once. Because this is the case, one must make the most out of his or her life. This is especially true of you and your family.

Your father spends most of the year away in the city where he works as a cook to earn enough money to support you and the rest of your family. Your father works as hard as he does because he has life better than his father did, and he desires that all of his...