| I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a | | | | resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of |
| horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his | | | | money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay |
| house to put on fund-raising events to raise money | | | | for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to |
| for youth at risk programs. | | | | pay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever |
| The last time I was there he introduced me by | | | | do it.' Then the teacher added, ‘If you will |
| saying, "I want to tell you why I let Jack use my | | | | rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will |
| house. It all goes back to a story about a young man | | | | reconsider your grade.'" |
| who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who | | | | "The boy went home and thought about it long and |
| would go from stable to stable, race track to race | | | | hard. He asked his father what he should do. His |
| track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training | | | | father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up |
| horses. As a result, the boy's high school career was | | | | your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very |
| continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was | | | | important decision for you.'" |
| asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be | | | | "Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy |
| and do when he grew up." | | | | turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. |
| That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing | | | | He stated, ‘You can keep the F and I'll keep my |
| his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote | | | | dream.'" |
| about his dream in great detail and he even drew a | | | | Monty then turned to the assembled group and |
| diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of | | | | said, "I tell you this story because you are sitting in |
| all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he | | | | my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my |
| drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot | | | | 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper |
| house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch." | | | | framed over the fireplace." He added, "The best part |
| "He put a great deal of his heart into the project and | | | | of the story is that two summers ago that same |
| the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two | | | | schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my |
| days later he received his paper back. On the front | | | | ranch for a week." When the teacher was leaving, he |
| page was a large red F with a note that read, | | | | said, ‘Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When |
| ‘See me after class.'" | | | | I was your teacher, I was something of a dream |
| "The boy with the dream went to see the teacher | | | | stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids' |
| after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive an F?'" | | | | dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to |
| "The teacher said, ‘This is an unrealistic dream | | | | give up on yours.'" |
| for a young boy like you. You have no money. You | | | | Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your |
| come from an itinerant family. You have no | | | | heart, no matter what. |