28/12/2025
Weekly Story
Keep Your Dream
Author Unknown
During a fundraiser for youth-at-risk programs, the owner of the horse ranch hosting the event said, “I want to tell you why I let you use my house. 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, racetrack to racetrack, and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s schooling was continually interrupted. When he was a high school senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do in the future.
"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, 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 his 200-acre dream ranch.
“He put his heart and a great deal of effort into the project, and handed it in to his teacher the next day. 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 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, 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 a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. “He told the teacher, ‘You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.’
The owner 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 they were leaving, the teacher said, ‘Look, I can tell you this now. During the years as your teacher, I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately, you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.’”
So don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what the circumstances might be.
