佳作欣赏：Follow Your Dream！(ZT)

connie

Follow Your Dream



I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro.
He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money
for youth at risk programs.
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; r1 w+ f; n# l. m; S; R& yThe 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
. ^1 {4 H' S3 Ito stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training
. q. w% q7 c; s% b. z' l- vhorses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted.
4 g& w# L7 `6 `$ J3 x# n: ~When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted
: `  }/ K$ u) z. K( I) U, ]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
/ e. y* R7 g0 r. {8 ?$ Lowning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even
7 b& F" k. y) O* n5 O% [drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings,
the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot
) a7 K" m( j+ B! j% Rhouse that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.
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5 j8 ~/ l4 U7 I'He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he
+ l) m- I$ P& R' w: Hhanded it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back.
2 h: {  l  t- E1 |7 c  `, }On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after
class.'
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9 w# u3 D1 g- b'The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked,
`Why did I receive an F?'
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( f8 v7 M  V4 m# M6 ?'The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you.
3 x2 L' t# `3 qYou 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.
" H1 l, f3 M; e$ s1 q" Y7 {& f/ ?You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to
) ~1 Y! q9 m& X4 ]9 g- l8 xpay 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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'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
. _+ D4 z9 @& Eown mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for
( n8 H7 d! E$ L2 Jyou.’
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% ]1 u0 B8 [2 q& A& n) b'Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same
' b" w* B0 I4 A. Wpaper, making no changes at all. He stated, `You can keep the F and I'll
7 M' q3 ?9 K% Ykeep my dream.''
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) H# e) e3 |- v9 ], {$ dMonty then turned to the assembled group and said, 'I tell you this story
( R- O3 V/ @# X8 Y5 q0 Ebecause you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of
" a+ c5 B6 u/ |) U% s8 imy 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
fireplace.' He added, 'The best part of the story is that two summers ago
- o7 y- Y% Z9 ]4 ^9 Dthat 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
5 }% \9 b; |* P7 c/ x* I" R. T0 rnow. 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

Fine

小叶子

顶