“You can only meet him on one condition,” He replied. “You never show your face around us ever again.” My heart stopped. I couldn’t believe

My father used to tell us that a person who gets put on a ventilator seldom survives. And that was the miserable fate my father met.

Her condition was so serious that they had to put her on a ventilator. We all prayed for her day and night, but she wasn’t improving.

I even felt my dad betrayed me. Why did he even bother to sit and draw with me if this is what would happen in the end?

I was the fastest boy at Whittier Woods Elementary School. When it was time for the races for the Presidential Physical Fitness awards...

I remember the fear in my mother’s eyes...I remember the pounding of my heart. It was the first night my father came home drunk...

If uninterrupted, I could talk to you about optics (which is the study of light and its properties) for the rest of my life...

I could have easily had a very normal life, had a 9-to-5 job, live paycheck-to-paycheck, and dream of big things without acting...

...As a child, I spent most of my time outside. The more time I spent in it, the closer I grew to it, and my love reached further...

My father was a police officer, and my mother ran a small shop. My life started out normal...

My city, Karachi, is simply magical. It’s one of the largest, most populated cities in the world and it is the economic hub of Pakistan...

What makes a happy life? Wealth? Success? Passion? For many years, I tried to figure out how to be happy. Turns out...

I shouldn’t have taken all those pills, I didn’t want to die. I needed to get to a phone to call 911, but it was so hard to move...

I fell on my face so many times I lost count, but the thing that made my life different was that I refused to stay down...

From an early age, I showed an interest in becoming a police officer, or rather, I became interested in adventure and excitement...

Times in the southern US during the 1940s and 1950s were trying ones, indeed. We were poor. I guess you could say “dirt poor.” I remember...

However, one piece was always missing: my mother. She committed suicide when I was just eight months old, so everything I know about...

My parents—my father especially—were very liberal for the society in which we lived. A retired army officer, my father was well-educated...

When I was a child, I would walk the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, while staring at the dusty pavement below. I did not want to look...

“I’m kicking you out. Come get your stuff.” I was 16 when I read this devastating text from my stepfather. No money. No job. And now ...