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.
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