I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events. The last time I was there he introduced me by saying: “I want to tell you a story. 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.
 
我有一個朋友叫蒙蒂•羅伯茨，他擁有一座養馬場。他讓我用他的房子作為舉辦籌集基金活動的地點。上次我在他那兒時，他跟我說：“我想給你講一個故事。這要追溯到一個年輕人身上發生的故事，他是一位巡回馴馬師的兒子，他的馴馬師父親從馬廄到賽馬場，從農莊到牧場，負責訓練那里的馬匹。結果，這個男孩的中學生涯就不斷地被中斷。當他成為一名高年級學生的時候，老師要求他寫一篇文章，內容有關他長大后想成為什么人以及想做些什么。
“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.
“那天夜里，他寫了長達七頁的文章，描述了自己將來有一天能擁有一座養馬場的目標。他極其詳細地介紹了自己的這個夢想，甚至還畫出了一幅200英畝牧場的示意圖，在上面標出所有建筑、馬廄和跑道的具體位置。然后他又畫了一幅面積達4,000平方英尺的房屋平面圖，這棟房子會坐落在200英畝的夢想牧場上。
“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.’
“他在這個項目上投入了很多心血，第二天，他把文章交給了老師。兩天后，他收到了自己的文章。在第一頁上，有一個大大的紅色F，并帶有一條批注：‘課后來見我。’
“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.’
“這個懷揣夢想的男孩課后去見那位老師，他問：‘為什么我得了一個F?’老師回答說：‘對于像你這樣的小男孩來說，這是一個不切實際的夢想。你沒錢。你出身于一個居無定所的家庭。你也沒什么才智謀略。要擁有一座養馬場需要很多錢。你得買地。你還得為原有的種畜付錢，之后，你將要支付大筆的種馬費。你是永遠也無法做到的。’隨后，老師又補充道：‘如果你針對一個更為實際的目標重寫這篇文章的話，我會重新考慮你的成績的。’
“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 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.’ ”
“這個男孩回家苦苦思索了很久，他問自己的父親他該做些什么。父親回答說：‘哎，兒子，你必須要在這件事上自己下定決心。不過，我認為這對你來說是一個非常重要的決定。’最終，男孩在一周后交上了同樣一篇文章，他根本沒做任何更改。他表明：‘你可以保留這個F，而我將繼續懷有我的這個夢想。’”
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 years 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.’ ”
然后，蒙蒂轉向聚集的人群說：“我告訴你們這個故事，是因為你們目前正坐在我4,000平方英尺的房子里，它就坐落在我這200英畝的養馬場中心。我依然留著那份學校論文，把它裝在鏡框里，掛在壁爐的上方。”他補充道：“這個故事里最精彩的部分是，就在兩年前，同一位老師帶著30個孩子在我的牧場上露營了一周的時間。當那位老師離開時，他說：‘喂，蒙蒂，我現在可以對你說這些了，當我做你老師的時候，我其實有點兒像一個偷夢人。在那些歲月里，我偷走了很多孩子的夢想。但幸運的是，你有足夠的魄力，沒有放棄自己的夢想。’”
“Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what,” Monty at last concluded.
“不要讓任何人偷走你的夢想。無論怎樣都要跟隨你自己的心，”蒙蒂最后總結道。