Whip The World

Muhammad Ali is transcendent. When my Dad and I watched Ali light the torch at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, Dad told me Ali was the most famous person in the world. I spent a long while wondering if that was true. Then, after learning all I could about the man - beyond just watching all his artful fights like an obsessive - I went from wondering whether what Dad said was true to WANTING what he said to be true.

That's because if Ali is the most famous person in the world, that's a damn good thing for the world. I want the most famous person to courageously and fearlessly stand eye to eye with the world - or, really, Ali probably had a few inches on 'em - and tell us what needed to change; to publicly and graciously shrug off material success and fame for the sake of what is right; to keep his word when he says he is going to beat your ass, and then spend the rest of his life working for peace.

He stuck to his truth and the everyone else eventually came around to it. That is the kind of person we should all want as the world's most prominent. That's especially true today when so many of our "leaders" are grotesque, divisive demagogues who wouldn't know how to turn a phrase if Ali was whispering in their ear - and he wouldnt whisper in your's, Donald, trust.

I guess this makes me hope in the cliche that in his death, we can learn something to apply to this life. So, lets get on it, y'all. in the meantime, I'm going to go back to weeping like a child while i listen to this song from a pair of white country singers about the black revolutionary boxer who whipped the world. RIP to the Greatest Ever. Peace.