I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch. He has let me use his house toput on fund-raising events. The last time I was there he introduced me by saying: “I want totell you a story. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itineranthorse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm andranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continuallyinterrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted tobe 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 detailedfloor 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 histeacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with anote that read, ‘See me after class.’

“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive anF?’ The teacher said, ‘This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have nomoney. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources . Owning a horse ranchrequires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breedingstock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees . There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Thenthe teacher added, ‘If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsideryour grade.’

“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he shoulddo. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think itis a very important decision for you.’ Finally, after 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 aresitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still havethat school paper framed over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the story is that twoyears ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week. Whenthe 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. Fortunatelyyou had enough gumption not to give up on yours.’ ”

“Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what,” Monty at lastconcluded.

我有一个朋友叫蒙蒂•罗伯茨，他拥有一座养马场。他让我用他的房子作为举办筹集基金活动的地点。上次我在他那儿时，他跟我说：“我想给你讲一个故事。这要追溯到一个年轻人身上发生的故事，他是一位巡回驯马师的儿子，他的驯马师父亲从马厩到赛马场，从农庄到牧场，负责训练那里的马匹。结果，这个男孩的中学生涯就不断地被中断。当他成为一名高年级学生的时候，老师要求他写一篇文章，内容有关他长大后想成为什么人以及想做些什么。

“那天夜里，他写了长达七页的文章，描述了自己将来有一天能拥有一座养马场的目标。他极其详细地介绍了自己的这个梦想，甚至还画出了一幅200英亩牧场的示意图，在上面标出所有建筑、马厩和跑道的具体位置。然后他又画了一幅面积达4,000平方英尺的房屋平面图，这栋房子会坐落在200英亩的梦想牧场上。

“他在这个项目上投入了很多心血，第二天，他把文章交给了老师。两天后，他收到了自己的文章。在第一页上，有一个大大的红色F，并带有一条批注：‘课后来见我。’

“这个怀揣梦想的男孩课后去见那位老师，他问：‘为什么我得了一个F?’老师回答说：‘对于像你这样的小男孩来说，这是一个不切实际的梦想。你没钱。你出身于一个居无定所的家庭。你也没什么才智谋略。要拥有一座养马场需要很多钱。你得买地。你还得为原有的种畜付钱，之后，你将要支付大笔的种马费。你是永远也无法做到的。’随后，老师又补充道：‘如果你针对一个更为实际的目标重写这篇文章的话，我会重新考虑你的成绩的。’

“这个男孩回家苦苦思索了很久，他问自己的父亲他该做些什么。父亲回答说：‘哎，儿子，你必须要在这件事上自己下定决心。不过，我认为这对你来说是一个非常重要的决定。’最终，男孩在一周后交上了同样一篇文章，他根本没做任何更改。他表明：‘你可以保留这个F，而我将继续怀有我的这个梦想。’”

然后，蒙蒂转向聚集的人群说：“我告诉你们这个故事，是因为你们目前正坐在我4,000平方英尺的房子里，它就坐落在我这200英亩的养马场中心。我依然留着那份学校论文，把它装在镜框里，挂在壁炉的上方。”他补充道：“这个故事里最精彩的部分是，就在两年前，同一位老师带着30个孩子在我的牧场上露营了一周的时间。当那位老师离开时，他说：‘喂，蒙蒂，我现在可以对你说这些了，当我做你老师的时候，我其实有点儿像一个偷梦人。在那些岁月里，我偷走了很多孩子的梦想。但幸运的是，你有足够的魄力，没有放弃自己的梦想。’”

“不要让任何人偷走你的梦想。无论怎样都要跟随你自己的心，”蒙蒂最后总结道。