Follow Your Dream
Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.
I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch1 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 itinerant2 horse trainer who would go from stable3 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-acre4 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 to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud5 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 fireplace6. “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 gumption7 not to give up on yours.’”
Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.
追随你的梦想
不要让任何人偷走你的梦想。抓住你心中所向往的，无论那是什么。
我有一个朋友叫蒙蒂·罗伯特，他在圣塞德罗有一个牧马场。他让我用他的房子搞集资活动为那些进行冒险的年轻人筹款。
最后一次，在蒙蒂的牧场他这样介绍我说，“我想告诉你们我为什么让杰克用我的房子。
这要回到一个年轻人的故事上，这个年轻人是一个流动驯马员的儿子，这个驯马员到处驯马，从一个马厩到另一个马厩，从一个赛场到另一个赛场，从一个农场到另一个农场，从一个牧场到另一个牧场。结果使孩子的高中生活常常被打断。当这个孩子成为一个高中生时，他被要求写一篇关于他长大以后想做什么的文章。”
“那个晚上，他写了7叶纸描述他将来某一天拥有一个牧场的目标。他详细的写下了他的梦想，甚至画了一幅200英亩的牧场图，展示所有的房子，马厩和跑道的位置。然后他详尽计划了坐落在200英亩梦想的牧场上的4000平方英尺的房子。”
“他尽全力来完成这个工程，并且第二天交给了老师。两天后他拿回的自己的文章。在第一页上有一个大大的红色的F，并且还写着‘下课后来找我。’”
“课后，男孩带着他的梦想去见老师，并问，‘为什么给我F？’”
“老师说，‘对于一个像你这样的小孩来说这是一个不切实际的梦想。你没有钱，你来自一个流动的家庭，你没有资源。拥有一个牧场需要有很多钱。你要买地，要支付开始养牲畜的钱，之后你将要支付一笔种马钱。你根本没办法做到这些。’然后老师又说，‘如果你重新写这篇文章，写一个现实点的目标，我会再考虑你的分数。’”
“男孩回到家，冥思苦想了很长时间。他问父亲他应该怎么做。他父亲说，‘看，儿子，你必须自己决定这件事。尽管如此，我认为这对于你来说是一个非常重要的决定。’”
“最后，男孩又拿着这篇文章想了一周之后，男孩把同样的文章交了上去，没有任何改动。他说：‘你可以留着F，但我继续要我的梦想。’”
然后，蒙蒂转向聚集在一起的人说：“我告诉你们这个故事，因为你们现在正坐在我200英亩的牧场中心的4000平方英尺的房子中。我仍留着那篇上学时的文章，镶好了挂在壁炉的上方。”他接着说，“故事最精彩的部分是，两年前那个老师带了30名学生在我的牧场上露营了一周。当老师要走时，他说：‘看，蒙蒂，现在我可以告诉你，当我是你的老师时，我有点儿像梦想的偷窃者。在这些年间，我偷了很多孩子的梦想。幸运的是你有足够的魄力不放弃你的梦想。’”
不要让任何人偷走你的梦想。抓住你心中所向往的，无论那是什么。
Notes:
1. ranch n. 牧场，饲养场
2. itinerant adj. 巡回的，流动的
3. stable n. 马厩
4. acre n. 英亩
