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.
0 j* E  _! g# D  M5 Y: Q+ _8 G( c! fHe has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money
for youth at risk programs.

- B( T/ X. F+ w: Y. |* H. ]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 stable
! A1 I1 M! m( Z& o( q8 Zto 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.
) @* j# p4 R6 [3 tWhen he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted
+ a) G2 V4 d7 u! \1 D2 i6 s3 kto be and do when he grew up.
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" z) @0 r$ x& N! t: x8 D" v2 o'That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday
' g' I2 O, k" Howning 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,
% d$ \; o. A. E, i, u- a+ U7 p; `( N( mthe 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.

'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.
( U, b; y$ k% C. r" \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,
" _: ]9 t, O( Y7 Q`Why did I receive an F?'
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( t) F3 k9 l( l/ J'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
8 u: N* p0 W6 C: Q  O$ F; R( ^pay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher
, j9 H/ K$ k; u* N) {added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will
2 A# Y7 [1 f' d! b) n1 kreconsider your grade.’
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'The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father
) n' ]* e7 [$ I% l/ q: Lwhat 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
+ q; w3 T" K* E+ P- R4 byou.’
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'Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same
4 q7 K4 f, i4 G9 N* F9 _, x8 hpaper, 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
/ v3 u. b6 h$ v# y4 ~& @' ?- Z9 }$ mmy 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
9 I- B; X3 |: a) F8 }( m: w1 @" Ofireplace.' 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
now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During
0 j! g& F7 ~$ Y( M" Athose years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption
4 h( \9 j" V4 g) l8 Qnot to give up on yours.’'

Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.

driver2004

mercurybird

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小叶子

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