Follow Your Dreams

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 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 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 the dreams God gives you. Follow your

heart, no matter what."

~By Jack Canfield~
from "Chicken Soup For The Soul",
edited by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen

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