Oriah Mountain Dreamer, a Native American elder

[Anton Ninno <anton@ERICIR.SYR.EDU>]

Got this from a friend today...Friday afternoon soul food.  - Anton

----------

"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.

I need to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you
have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with 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,
and if you can source your life from God's presence.  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 silver 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."

...Oriah Mountain Dreamer, an Native American elder

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Anton Ninno, AskLN Coordinator           AskLN@ericir.syr.edu
4-290 Center for Science & Technology    anton@ericir.syr.edu
Information Institute of Syracuse        800.464.9107 toll-free
Syracuse Univ., Syracuse, NY 13244-4100  315.443.3640 New York State
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