佳作欣赏：Follow Your Dream！(ZT)

connie

Follow Your Dream

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I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro.
3 ]$ y/ d1 T$ i% ?7 V, m" l! }% cHe has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money
for youth at risk programs.

& a" i2 l) y) T( O/ B& F1 `The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, 'I want to tell you
why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young
2 p- m% t- I8 ^4 t3 L5 r$ {4 Lman who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable
to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training
! ^7 o5 N5 D, t% jhorses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted.
8 h, Q6 M' u4 _( OWhen he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted
to be and do when he grew up.
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'That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday
& G; Q7 _) T) f( ?owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even
$ S& B; H( A( A$ Idrew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings,
0 J6 s8 B/ N1 lthe stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot
' H7 K- [+ q1 R  |% qhouse that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.

' o, P( e, z* W0 w4 M" ?' K) X9 D'He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he
1 B7 W# o8 X6 m/ }handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back.
' c: s3 |' @$ `1 u; M& e# B% W6 kOn the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after
class.'

) }2 c9 X2 j8 C'The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked,
; d. B; T3 F0 }6 I; l`Why did I receive an F?'
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! v2 O: H  C6 Y1 G* O6 s$ D'The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you.
3 s& b1 s7 J7 h1 l' H' L# A- c  sYou have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources.
+ f+ U3 j( f2 X; y" zOwning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land.
7 P/ a7 \( P7 Y% D7 c1 UYou have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to
pay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher
added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will
1 V: u' n6 |2 m* |! Z' }  J% B" k( nreconsider your grade.’
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, P, |8 f' L; B  u+ `  F- t2 I'The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father
what he should do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up your
* G5 k# ]- O/ o# S! t! yown mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for
you.’
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6 R- M; a1 r4 F$ i'Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same
  K8 X* j6 ?/ q# Jpaper, making no changes at all. He stated, `You can keep the F and I'll
- D: H, P7 ~1 vkeep my dream.''

( h; b, V( g$ K( q6 |Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, 'I tell you this story
because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of
* J) \5 h0 p. U' {my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
6 A  `5 Z2 T: r, ?( d) Yfireplace.' He added, 'The best part of the story is that two summers ago
that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.'
When the teacher was leaving, he said, `Look, Monty, I can tell you this
; Y) }$ B* w4 w' a% @9 `4 {now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During
those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption
2 g( ^( j7 M2 a. @0 N) ^not to give up on yours.’'

' G3 ~8 C: }( f. T3 |) K2 r$ qDon't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.

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mercurybird

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