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Follow Your Dream; N, z! f: ^ J6 x$ r
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I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. ' C1 e- g- F, j6 b
He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money
. ?3 b6 e" d( kfor youth at risk programs.
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The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, 'I want to tell you , E4 G5 E3 u2 i9 w) F
why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young
Q: x" \- w5 D7 o& eman who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable
& @ G* ~' x# `$ ^to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training
! g& }4 |$ E- b+ w& l1 chorses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted. * r% J! [7 i6 X U! B
When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted
- f' g, v3 N: r+ b/ i+ G7 Y: h) x5 {to be and do when he grew up.
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'That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday 2 t: w) A% w" o; r2 `5 x; q- n1 ?$ ?
owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even $ s5 C3 z! W% q9 P& z, @, J) ^
drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, ( C) ]( ~* v _+ q4 B
the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot * D# ^8 {# T6 y3 I# X% I9 y2 S
house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.
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* {! p8 O- [2 J! k'He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he 1 l/ u% N9 T( Q# ^
handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back.
0 }% Z( m! P/ n/ v7 Q5 o# _On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after
# a" z0 b; h6 C$ I8 @3 j# _4 jclass.'
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'The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, * _$ d" j4 f6 z" Z7 s( }. D
`Why did I receive an F?' 2 G3 v; A) n: D) i
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'The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. % C1 U# s" L5 u! H
You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources.
9 i! g W9 S- p0 B0 j% OOwning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. ( H4 Y2 B5 c3 K
You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to
+ o% u( Y& I" K# Opay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher - [+ z% p; c" E5 Q3 _+ {
added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will 7 r/ W7 ~$ m g/ R. g" r9 w" m( T
reconsider your grade.’
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: E& j+ \( e' Q4 ]2 W7 q, m'The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father
C. w3 Y7 t4 L0 f1 F% t9 E0 gwhat he should do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up your # I, A3 V; I1 S1 @" o) [; O
own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for 9 g* W0 \8 G4 l( q1 U; _% P9 h+ x: K# V
you.’
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/ }: p" H- f# ~ A _9 X E'Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same 5 U% b) Z6 ~8 W1 T: d' ~; [
paper, making no changes at all. He stated, `You can keep the F and I'll
5 |" f' D P3 A+ J8 S; r" r& C8 Rkeep my dream.'' % L# [* s$ X9 u6 F, @
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Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, 'I tell you this story
/ l" d6 m9 g) N3 S* m8 b$ qbecause you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of
/ |1 q' J3 N$ v _, a/ }6 Xmy 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
7 G9 s @6 i8 e0 o% u! }fireplace.' He added, 'The best part of the story is that two summers ago
1 q, o: ^" w+ {. Kthat same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.' 8 `; P6 B3 o0 E, I
When the teacher was leaving, he said, `Look, Monty, I can tell you this
" {' Z7 c: U: J( gnow. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During
% ^, b- s. a8 _" C7 kthose years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption
$ M2 n- {* D# M9 Gnot to give up on yours.’'
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( J" f: Y. k3 M; dDon't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what. |
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