Stories of Kindness from Around the World

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living

I want to know what you ache for,

and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing

 

It doesn't interest me how old you are

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,

for your dreams, for the adventure of being 

alive                                                                                                       

 

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon

I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,

if you have been opened by life's betrayals or become shriveled

and closed from fear of further pain

 

I want to know if you can sit in pain, mine or your own,

without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it

 

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own,

if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to

the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be

careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human

 

It doesn't interest me if the story you're telling me is true

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself,

if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul

 

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy

 

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not

pretty every day

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine,

and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the light

of the full moon: "Yes!"

 

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or

how much money you have


I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,

weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done for the children

 

It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here

I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me

and not shrink back

 

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied

I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away

 

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself

and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments

 

At some time in our life, the darkness within all of us seeps in and begins to take root,                                                       
but it is not having been in the dark that taints us,
but it is whether we can capture our own light to guide us out, 
which truly counts. 

 
-Oriah Mountain Dreamer