Caroline House, better known as Oriah Mountain Dreamer, is a storyteller and a poet. Her writings delve into the human heart and explore who we are at the very center of our souls. She has written several books, but her poem, “The Invitation” is perhaps her most popular and acclaimed work.

I have improvised the poem’s format, themes and some of her wording from her poem to create my original “invitation” for you to read here.

I’m calling my piece: “I Want to Know …”

It doesn’t interest me what kind of job you have. I want to know if you would quit it tomorrow to pursue a career doing what has been your heart’s passion for years.

It doesn’t interest me how much money you make. I want to know if you would turn down working overtime hours to stay home to be with your wife and kids.

It doesn’t interest me if you drive a Tesla or a BMW. I want to know if can you can feel empathy for someone who parks his 20-year-old car next to yours because he can’t afford to buy the car that you own.

I don’t care what kind of house you live in. I want to know if you would invite a someone broken by life‘s circumstances into your home to have dinner with you and your family.

I want to know if you can come home from a bad day at work and still kiss your wife and play with your children.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you might make a fool of yourself trying to find love, chase a dream, or live every moment as if it might be your last.

It doesn’t interest me if you brag about the life you have. I want to know what you do during your deepest sorrows, how you react when you’ve been betrayed by people you have trusted, or if you would risk loss and failure in order to attain peace of mind.

I want to know if you can handle your emotional pain, or mine without trying to say you’re OK or believe me when I tell you “I’m fine” when you know both of us are not.

I don’t care if you go to church every Sunday. I want to know how you treat people at your job, in public places and at home.

I want to know if you can do whatever it takes to feel a great sense of joy, or be happy for my joy or throw away caution to dance in the moonlight or stretch the limits of your imagination and do something that exhilarates you beyond what is considered normal human behavior.

It doesn’t interest me if you tell jokes in public places to make others laugh. I want to know how you respond to your own tears of sadness and if you can pick yourself up off the floor and go right back at it to regain your sense of humor.

I want to know if I can trust you with my life, if you will come to me at 3 a.m. if I need you, if you will leave something you enjoy doing to help me whenever I’m in a state of despair.

It doesn’t interest me about your political beliefs. I want to know if you can be open-minded to other political views and consider changing yours to theirs.

I want to know if you would offer to pay the balance for a woman with two small children at the checkout line in a grocery store when she was $16 short of her food stamps to pay her total bill.

I want to know if you can see the beauty in the midst of a rainy day, if you can sing a radio song loudly while your wipers are sweeping across your windshield at top speed.

I want to know if your heart has been broken, but that you never give up the effort to find a true and long-lasting relationship.

It doesn’t interest me what popular people you know. I want to know that when you’re with me you take interest in what I have to say.

It doesn’t interest me where you have studied or what college degrees you have. I want to know how your treat the less educated and the less fortunate.

I want to know if you can be alone with keep company with yourself.

I want to know if you can respect all Americans regardless of their race, religion or culture.

I want to know that despite a falling out with someone in your family many years ago, you can drop the grudge to forgive, and to repair the relationship.

It doesn’t interest me how much time you spend fussing with your appearance in front of a mirror. I want to know if you can stand still there and look into your own eyes and like what you see.

I don’t care if you don’t understand all the chaos that is happening in this world. I want to know if you can still be at peace with God, or at the very least, be at peace with yourself.

It doesn’t interest me if you love someone who loves you back. I want to know if you can still love that someone when he or she is most unlovable.

I want to know that in this temporary existence we have here on earth, that after you have died, you left a legacy that has made at least one life better simply because you had lived.

Email Rich Strack at richiesadie11@gmail.com