Author Unknown
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.
The last time I was there
he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. 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 to stable, race track to race track,
farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. 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 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 house 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 handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he
received his paper back. On 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?”
The teacher said, “This
is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You 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. You 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.”
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.” Finally, after sitting with it
for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, 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 fireplace.” 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.”
Don’t let anyone steal
your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.
(Source: http://www.inspire21.com/stories/educationstories)
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