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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. 8 o; o, f+ ]' l$ b% Z; r
He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money ) i/ O) v/ Y. h" [8 C. Y. ~5 A& C
for youth at risk programs.
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The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, 'I want to tell you
% L5 {: o% Y0 ?: x% U0 Awhy I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young
* x+ z# ~3 o1 ~* T4 i$ v! p* u5 Q2 Lman who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable 4 ]! d- V# J3 [5 g+ Z
to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training # N6 Y$ V2 J5 U# g
horses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted.
3 D0 X7 q7 J1 O1 M2 |When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted
( O8 S2 D, R. G& dto be and do when he grew up. % {) M. D1 n U$ Z+ I
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'That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday 9 x' S' d( v8 _- Y% o$ d2 |
owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even
( G! J5 K% o$ V' Q' ?drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings,
# m6 ?/ T# Q+ e, I5 D- @the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot
% x U f. _5 D+ lhouse that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch. 8 ?$ }$ m& N5 g4 Y) `! S
% P, X8 l, T( c, |2 h* ^ {'He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he ' @) v6 P. p. b P; s" x" {( K
handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. , n N* R! _, ?. C+ s# R! C& e
On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after ! E1 s6 @0 C# _) T0 y& i
class.'
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'The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, # @" o1 D. @0 b; C* r
`Why did I receive an F?' : f+ w1 H: f( X# Z( ^; f
z" {! T/ A: z3 P9 y2 ?'The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you.
' |* Q8 {5 q) |9 E' y$ n+ i ~You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. " V) [3 l/ t" @5 a# v, m" F( ]
Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. 7 Q: C# j9 ?7 J
You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to / g0 R2 f% Y* V
pay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher
# @( W+ k2 }7 E5 p" Q6 r8 aadded, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will
4 S8 H9 B8 M) f- P# n- v Q6 jreconsider your grade.’ $ L' E% k. g; e/ g( ]0 W
. p; a, `5 k* x$ E. W" d'The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father # x' P9 H$ X% p2 x7 }! Z8 i
what he should do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up your
2 G* U; x! D+ }4 z' E0 _own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for % }) ~3 \( [- I5 [& E/ y& Q
you.’
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'Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same ( N: c" D0 c9 C1 y
paper, making no changes at all. He stated, `You can keep the F and I'll
3 e3 N) ?# h w6 P& H' u7 lkeep my dream.''
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6 o# v1 r, e) k# h# `: R/ ?Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, 'I tell you this story
. ]" G( B1 ?( S/ T( E* Y+ ?because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of
% Y9 o6 b% v! y2 gmy 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
- E/ S8 C6 d2 Dfireplace.' He added, 'The best part of the story is that two summers ago 0 C6 [; k6 S9 G4 l5 ?. L5 S! b
that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.' * k2 f3 K' X5 r- W' a
When the teacher was leaving, he said, `Look, Monty, I can tell you this V' {% X- v! u) F- k* k
now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During
; M& }% l3 L8 r$ y- Z3 ^% u+ ~) ?% Lthose years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption / [. O- g) n0 p
not to give up on yours.’' 4 ?% c% X, p' {; E6 T0 Y
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Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what. |
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