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 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 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?'"

　　追隨夢想

　　我有個朋友叫蒙提?羅伯茲，他在圣思多羅（San Ysidro）有座牧馬場。我常借用他寬敞的住宅舉辦募款活動，以便為幫助青少年的計劃籌備基金。

　　上次活動時，他在致辭中提到：“我讓杰克借用住宅是有原因的。這故事跟一個小男孩有關，他的父親是位馬術師，他從小就必須跟著父親東奔西波，男孩的求學過程并不順利。初中時，有次老師叫全班同學寫報告，題目是長大后的志愿?！?/p>

　　“那晚他洋洋灑灑寫了7張紙，描述他的偉大志愿，那就是想擁有一座屬于自己的牧馬農場，并且仔細畫了一張200畝農場的設計圖，上面標有馬廄、跑道等的位置，然后在這一大片農場中央，還要建造一棟占地4000平方英尺的巨宅?！?/p>

　　“他花了好大心血把報告完成，第二天交給了老師。兩天后他拿回了報告，第一頁上打了一個又紅又大的F，旁邊還寫了一行字：下課后來見我?！?/p>

　　“腦中充滿幻想的他下課后帶著報告去找老師：‘為什么給我不及格？’”

　　"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.

　　“老師回答道：‘你年紀輕輕，不要老做白日夢。你沒錢，沒家庭背景，什么都沒有。蓋座農場可是個花錢的大工程；你要花錢買地、花錢買純種馬匹、花錢照顧它們。你別太好高騖遠了。’他接著又說：‘如果你肯重寫一個比較不離譜的志愿，我會重打你的分數?！?/p>

　　“這男孩回家后反復思量了好幾次，然后征詢父親的意見。父親只是告訴他：‘兒子，這是非常重要的決定，你必須自己拿定主意?！?/p>

　　“再三考慮好幾天后，他決定原稿交回，一個字都不改。他告訴老師：‘即使拿個大紅字，我也不愿放棄夢想?！?/p>

　　蒙提此時向眾人表示：“我提起這故事，是因為各位現在就坐在200畝農場內，占地4000平方英尺的豪華住宅。那份初中時寫的報告我至今還留著。”他頓了一下又說：“有意思的是，兩年前的夏天，那位老師帶了30個學生來我的農場露營一星期。離開之前，他對我說：‘蒙提，說來有些慚愧。你讀初中時，我曾潑過你冷水。這些年來，我也對不少學生說過相同的話。幸虧你有這個毅力堅持自己的夢想，’”

　　不論做什么事，相信你自己，別讓別人的一句話將你擊倒。

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