A way to be good again

Amir:

I wished Rahim Khan hadn't called me. I wished he had let me live on in my oblivion. But he had called me. And what Rahim Khan revealed to me changed things. Made me see how my entire life, long before the winter of 195, dating back to when that singing Hazara woman was still nursing me, had been a cycle of lies, betrayals, and secrets.
"There is a way to be good again," he'd said.
A way to end the cycle.

~ Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, 226-7

Rahim Khan about Baba:

I loved him because he was my friend, but also because he was a good man, maybe even a great man. And this is what I want you to understand, that good, real good, was born out of your father's remorse.
Sometimes, I think everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.

I know that in the end, God will forgive. He will forgive your father, me, and you too. I hope you can do the same. Forgive your father if you can. Forgive me if you wish. But, most important, forgive yourself.

~ Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, 302