佳作欣赏：Follow Your Dream！(ZT)

connie

Follow Your Dream

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6 N: t% }; e8 x6 m% ~# CI 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.
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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
$ k7 Q4 _; }9 s3 C6 x2 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.
9 u0 [" Z1 h* X4 y) \1 SWhen he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted
to be and do when he grew up.
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& I2 y- i& b# \, A, V'That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday
' j( \% z2 E1 Z2 Bowning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even
% b7 H. [: z3 z. ]& _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
$ p* E$ z9 @6 nhouse 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
! Q# b* C% j+ \( ^+ I9 mhanded it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back.
2 ]2 i1 v- \7 {- u/ r0 x+ E0 fOn the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after
class.'

& Q* {7 W7 B& C# E3 X4 e* f'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.
9 @- ^2 @" \' m2 TYou 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.
, [8 h: u- m& o6 U( I6 W, IYou have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to
. J, ?* M  ^! M8 j" B1 q% zpay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher
2 h+ Y# `; x' M/ i7 T5 Nadded, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will
$ m- ^# ~) K5 n# K* _% Freconsider your grade.’

) \( T  {+ ?8 x'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
8 A! ~9 W( }3 s- b& k, qown mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for
- a( q" H, w7 F" Q/ Eyou.’

. l4 S6 i: k( d9 o% s. k'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
& E7 L) P8 n7 E# z5 W4 Ukeep my dream.''

Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, 'I tell you this story
9 C+ s1 w2 A, f5 ^because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of
$ Q# d3 W& J; rmy 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the
2 f5 M% e% D: w6 V/ Mfireplace.' 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
2 @' G4 E" m/ T) ?5 ]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

Fine

小叶子

顶