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 horse. 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?’
“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.”
