T
|
he great Muhammad Ali has been summoned to join the great cosmic time train, as the gods have decreed that his time upon the earth has expired.
T
|
hose of us who know of and/or love this inimitable man, boxer, showman, entertainer, artist, poet, and philosopher, will miss him greatly. Those of us who are of a certain age will have grown up with Muhammad Ali and have watched his boxing matches, him being crowned the king of boxing, declaring himself the most recognisable man on the planet, seen the US government tried to destroy his boxing career and reputation because of his opposition to the Vietnam War, and, most poignantly, witnessed the attacks of Parkinson's Disease on his body, his speech and his demeanour.
Y
|
es, the Great Man and civil rights advocate, has, for some decades now, not been in the public's eyes as much as he had been in the past, and this has allowed many of us to begin the process of making the psychological adjustment to him no longer being as much a part of our living as he had been in the past. In this respect, the Great Man's sad passing might not have the same impact that that of Michael Jackson and Prince had; although he will still be missed by millions who will have perceive this sad, but natural event as the closing of another epoch.
M
|
uhammed Ali has, at various times in his career, been described as 'a loud mouth', 'a big mouth', and, most probably, as someone with a massively inflated ego. The difference between the Great Man and others who have been so described, is that Muhammad Ali had the courage to match his words with action; simply put, the Great Man was a genius, and one who was much loved by not only his fans, but probably, even if grudgingly, respected and admired by those who may have disliked him.
S
|
ome people called Muhammad Ali 'a racist.' My take on it is that the Great Man might have said things which might have been construed as being 'racist', but which was most probably due to the 'natural arrogance of young men and women searching for the truth', whatever that might be for them, and his strong conviction and openness in confronting the scourge of racism in his native America, in particular, and globally, in general.
M
|
uhammad Ali's frankness and honesty in discussing racism has helped America and the world to 'stop turning a blind eye' to the issue and to 'normalise' the debating of it. It is therefore not surprising that the Great Man became probably as popular and as much of a 'hero' to white people as he has been to black people. Muhammad Ali helped black people to re-affirm their faith in themselves as a people, in much the same way as others before him, such as Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Martin Luther King, Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, et al, had done. When people, including the Great Man himself, feel empowered, by knowledge or deeds, it is only to be expected that they will want to flex their 'newly acquired power, even if that is an acute pride in themselves as a people.
A
|
nd so we now have to say good bye to the Great Man, because death is the destiny of all humans, both the great and the ordinary mortal, and be satisfied with the inspiring and exciting experiences we have had of him. The Great Man has made the living of millions of people who have heard of and seen him that much richer, and, for that, we should be appreciative and thankful.
I
|
will not end by saying RIP, Muhammad, because it is a pointless saying; neither will I ask the gods to bless the Great Man's soul, because, except for inasmuch as Muhammad Ali now lives in the living, both the essence of his body and his soul will now become part of the undifferentiated whole of the cosmic train of time.
H
|
e has been fated to contribute more value to humans than millions of other individual humans, and has done his job with distinction. That should inspire the living to emulate Muhammad’s life-long commitment to making humans better than he has found us, and to transforming the world into a better place
No comments:
Post a Comment