Last week someone told me one of the most inspirational
stories I have ever heard. You may have heard it already, but it gave me goose
bumps and has made me really think differently about the future, my vision and how I act day to day.
I wanted to spread the good vibes around so I thought I would feature it on
my blog. Will it have a big impact on
you too?
Follow Your Dream, by Jack Canfield
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?'
"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. Have belief in yourself
kid! No matter what...
ReplyDeleteThis is really a wonderful post.