Follow Your Dream

"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.

By Jack Canfield From Chicken Soup for the Soul

追隨夢想

"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。’"

"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。’

"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。’"

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。