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.
7 g& E! n4 u* E7 BHe has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money
3 Z6 a9 |7 u1 E% T& Efor youth at risk programs.
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8 L) g+ t5 M, L+ \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
# M$ l; Y+ w3 a. R1 ~$ Oman 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
* f8 ?7 j# X* j3 O  mhorses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted.
When he was a senior, he 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
! P- X9 `; Y9 @( y9 p8 Z7 c2 _' Tdrew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings,
. C+ _; Q- _) P/ T% J. h" [1 othe stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot
" W: N; Q3 B. y2 y7 f# L0 Uhouse 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
8 z1 Z6 N! f6 Zhanded it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back.
# S4 T9 J4 q% h9 K3 p# AOn the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after
class.'
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'The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked,
  d& d8 C+ k$ T`Why did I receive an F?'
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. O) Z* z( C" c'The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you.
4 x$ g8 ?9 Q2 L9 }# F. zYou have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources.
2 z+ m) r$ U1 L* {9 FOwning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land.
& H; j& Q" q$ Y8 wYou 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
reconsider your grade.’
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- J7 b/ d0 p- c$ f. w9 E4 L. c'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
+ n2 V8 D  x1 b3 }+ }' |own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for
you.’
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'Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same
- N3 j2 |9 u! I7 W/ {- U! L' N) Cpaper, making no changes at all. He stated, `You can keep the F and I'll
keep my dream.''
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; B1 \, t2 X6 H4 X4 c" L& ]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
8 V* F1 K# \' M3 q3 c* A, D+ A% }my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
  g+ z% m/ f7 Q3 W( Z3 X4 Gfireplace.' 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
those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption
not to give up on yours.’'
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Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.

driver2004

mercurybird

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