Monty Roberts, a friend of mine, has a horse ranch in San Isidro. 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 welcomed me and said, "I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. 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 repeatedly interrupted.
"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 a F? '
I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000 square foot home in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch, and I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.
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.
"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 students' dreams. Fortunately, you had enough guts not to give up on yours," the instructor remarked as he turned to leave.
The lesson is to not let others steal your dreams. No matter what, always go with your heart. When one puts in the effort to achieve it, no dream is too large or too tiny. No matter what, one should constantly attempt to fulfill their dreams.