Follow your
heart!
I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Sedro. He
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 why
I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was
the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from farm and ranch-to-ranch,
training horses. As a result, the boy's high school career was asked to write a
paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.
"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 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 the 200-acre dream ranch.
"He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he 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.'
"The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, 'Why
did I receive an F?'
"The teacher said, 'this is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you.
You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources.
Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money.
You have to buy the land. You 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 rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider
your grade.'
"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 own
mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for
you.'
"Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the
same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, 'You can keep the F and I'll
keep my dream.'"
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 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 that same
school-teacher 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 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 not to give
up on yours.'"
Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.
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（英語點津姍姍編輯）
