"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 4000-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 school teacher 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.
我的朋友蒙提·羅伯茲在聖思多羅擁有一個牧馬場。他那寬敞的住宅經常被我借來舉辦籌募活動，募集的資金用來資助青少年冒險計劃。
在上次活動中，他致辭說：“我把房子借給傑克用是有原因的。這個故事要從一個小男孩說起，他的父親是位馬術師，他從小就跟著父親東奔西跑，求學過程並不順利。讀初中時，有一次，老師讓全班同學寫作文，題目是《我的夢想》。
“那晚，他一氣嗬成，整整寫了七頁，描述了他的宏圖大誌：擁有一個屬於自己的牧馬場。他仔細畫了一張200畝農場的設計圖，上麵標有馬廄、跑道等的位置，還要在農場中央建造一棟占地4000平方英尺的巨型豪宅。
“他費盡心思寫完作文，第二天交給了老師。兩天後文章發了下來，一個又紅又大的F赫然出現在第一頁，旁邊還有一行字：下課後來找我。