Remembering Muhammad Ali
Last week, after hearing about the death of Muhammad Ali, I telephoned my good friend Barbara Lewis and asked her “How has Muhammad Ali influenced our lives?” She responded with yesterday’s thoughtful “Remembering Muhammad Ali, …’my honor as a black boy had been defended, my honor as a human being …’ .” I’ve attempted in this post to collect the past two-to-three generation’s thoughts about Muhammad Ali—the people he met, the circumstances that influenced his life, as well as his own reflections in words, pictures and videos. Though Ali and I are of the same generation, I missed knowing about his impact on my surroundings. I’ve been very busy, over the past 40 years with my Adventures, not the least has been “ROUTES, A Guide to African-American Culture.” The following sections: Quotations, Videos and Photos demonstrate Ali’s power. It’s not an all encompassing presentation, but I hope you too are able to appreciate Muhammad Ali, the man you may have admired, loved, misunderstood or under appreciated.
Quotations
“I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.”
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
“The man who has no imagination has no wings.”
“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
“I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others.”
“A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.”
“It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.”
“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”
“Superman don’t need no seat belt.”
“I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.”
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”