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.
% Q, \2 T8 i0 e3 u( a  R+ HHe has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money
for youth at risk programs.

The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, 'I want to tell you
0 D* K" z6 U; b& nwhy I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young
: e6 V" [% h3 V5 C6 u5 c5 \man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable
* e  O+ V0 O" T) u+ ito stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training
horses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted.
% b7 g, u) \9 Y7 }3 ?/ o& tWhen he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted
* w. l( c$ ~5 |4 M% Y# {to be and do when he grew up.

# X/ C, b6 g" v; t. R'That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday
owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even
, T, l2 v2 M; s/ W. ]drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings,
the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot
house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.

& K/ J+ s1 u, L$ o. ^$ d'He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he
; N2 p/ p6 {3 I* v; w. Q6 d+ @handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back.
On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after
class.'

5 @  O$ Z0 |2 U, S+ m: j$ {'The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked,
# o0 M! w4 C3 p9 V`Why did I receive an F?'
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'The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you.
9 E9 W: ?* X! `& m2 f6 gYou have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources.
# k! T) N" y/ V* A! IOwning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land.
+ y# ^  c0 @, AYou have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to
9 D; j$ l/ O  m, Epay 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 N$ s) n  h1 L4 b1 Nreconsider your grade.’

8 \5 l5 E) B, j# `2 j" N/ Y'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
6 ^; M" P6 O0 m3 Q2 |! f: Y' wown mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for
* h  I6 n. ?8 \you.’

'Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same
( h2 A- G0 x) [0 y- v1 n) opaper, making no changes at all. He stated, `You can keep the F and I'll
keep my dream.''
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, y3 o. V! v1 fMonty 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
  g* i3 U0 ]% |my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
fireplace.' He added, 'The best part of the story is that two summers ago
4 ?) a6 C- t8 U5 I" Hthat same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.'
3 \# q3 _- [9 N9 ^% XWhen the teacher was leaving, he said, `Look, Monty, I can tell you this
9 Q9 i9 l$ P; ?6 Qnow. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During
- h5 P- V* Y* `# wthose years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption
not to give up on yours.’'

$ O" P4 ^0 T. k( s/ i' S* uDon't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.

driver2004

mercurybird

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