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.
9 p: T. J' ~2 I. l  THe has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money
6 ?% L5 H6 k! Ffor youth at risk programs.
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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
7 V+ ]- Z3 s' C* j( g- p" w5 Iman 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
* o2 ^3 I7 A6 d/ K$ K. ehorses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted.
9 U* }$ A# y  Q3 ?' WWhen he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted
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
. T* W# {4 b. S3 A5 d1 ~0 F" wowning 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,
; ]' T- D$ m2 s6 R. dthe 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.
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'He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he
1 S5 Q) X4 a4 e) P5 chanded it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back.
4 `6 Q" t7 Z6 A% ]4 BOn 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,
`Why did I receive an F?'

' d# `9 v* _. [" b'The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you.
; X; x$ ^  [7 t+ t  [You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources.
( i  Z7 W6 i. A* iOwning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land.
" O% l# F+ p  Q9 g2 t4 Z3 tYou have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to
2 l( i4 B2 ~1 E5 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.’

'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
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
0 j) s" G, S; ~: A+ ypaper, 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
my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
8 J5 y3 J' Y5 _, z8 Wfireplace.' He added, 'The best part of the story is that two summers ago
8 A  h( h3 F9 u% y/ N$ Bthat same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.'
: l* _% A8 j* e, x& c! sWhen 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
8 c8 y5 R4 @$ V8 a9 \7 pnot to give up on yours.’'
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" K: ~/ I. n6 U# o1 TDon't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.

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mercurybird

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