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.
He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money
for youth at risk programs.

1 h" {: |! h0 m5 T! k" l/ b1 F6 ?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
/ b3 G# S0 W3 R9 cman who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable
% b* U2 y" y9 T$ F: U; Q& l" Eto 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
3 [) S' u. U1 bto be and do when he grew up.
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'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
, Z) f9 B$ \! [6 g# j3 M8 Ydrew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings,
) x: P0 V( o- z( @7 N+ z6 m, v( H$ bthe stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot
% T7 G/ S) D" [8 ?house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.
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$ _6 P8 w2 c, d'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
+ J) x4 G5 E4 C$ dclass.'
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! K! r1 D/ y, ?% q1 n; a) A'The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked,
`Why did I receive an F?'
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'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.
" t* S0 G" O5 \7 y; BYou 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
  ^  x$ ^! D" n7 C. Jreconsider 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
8 X4 p1 |* z0 t8 W8 G) o3 kyou.’
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  o! y) ~/ S8 ^6 `5 g# z9 t4 I6 c'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.''
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Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, 'I tell you this story
  I, l, f: t4 G& E0 ]) hbecause you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of
4 N7 S' t" a! C6 y3 fmy 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
! T6 `" ~' N! Kthat 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
; C( s8 y" i1 ythose years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption
not to give up on yours.’'
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Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.

driver2004

mercurybird

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