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Follow Your Dream
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I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro.
6 f3 d1 T0 V" D# ]) OHe has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money 2 ?# R% G. @2 I6 e! j
for youth at risk programs.
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- ?, N7 N' k% x7 v1 a* j6 DThe last time I was there he introduced me by saying, 'I want to tell you ( J: J+ P% _ P- y' Q
why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young & p8 R- j6 E) c& N! O9 S8 x
man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable ! c4 s. z8 p0 e- f! k B1 P
to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training
6 s4 |6 l( R5 P0 t) {8 Y9 ihorses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted.
+ Z" L' E. y; L" F% t) ?When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted
: x/ M7 c6 U8 u5 P. h( u- C. qto be and do when he grew up. . B6 s) ~* n8 }- O* A1 H8 p
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'That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday
* K5 I( Z s) l l$ Kowning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even ' d8 F$ @/ S6 x& s3 a/ Y! F \$ b
drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings,
: p3 m2 {9 Z, x, v x/ Y6 Athe stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot
2 o m: a. [7 S9 c1 h* xhouse that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch. ; Z. `5 g1 Q5 N: [9 k1 ~
5 y. h; O1 r; a'He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he . T; ~- p( W3 `" b( t
handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. 4 v. j$ D; u8 a, ~( Q
On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after
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'The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, # E/ f. j' a3 K6 A/ q) f
`Why did I receive an F?'
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'The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. $ x7 _: Z2 X2 i7 [
You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources.
7 r3 m* u9 @ M" ~# j$ I" \Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. 5 y& r/ I9 E; I( c/ ?6 g8 j3 l% i- C
You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to
$ |2 H- S# q" J3 Xpay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher 4 z+ ^ H2 D& X3 [
added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will , _6 X# @+ X' E5 G% u1 X$ U j
reconsider your grade.’
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5 J+ w1 g3 r) C- H8 E' Q/ J'The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father
: `3 K! J9 `' [what he should do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up your / y- t' L5 Z5 S& L2 g3 r6 G
own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for : X. y! i- m. s$ I$ v( V
you.’ ( {9 l- E6 P9 `. P- i
! \, b2 j0 c L'Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same
+ c7 J$ o s7 q/ Zpaper, making no changes at all. He stated, `You can keep the F and I'll
: D5 t" R0 u, x0 U" f( ukeep my dream.''
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Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, 'I tell you this story
: R2 x/ Z4 `- A/ bbecause you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of
$ Z, f# b$ n8 E! ~1 omy 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the * Y+ f6 [/ _, T
fireplace.' He added, 'The best part of the story is that two summers ago , `" q4 T% E7 y5 g
that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.' 3 P# f0 F' [" b2 V; p' R' T
When the teacher was leaving, he said, `Look, Monty, I can tell you this 0 \5 q7 [* K7 h% ]+ }
now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During
2 `, A% S& k) D N' }those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption 3 X. K' M) K+ x/ d) b& K
not to give up on yours.’'
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; g* ?) t& Y% z# DDon't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what. |
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