Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee. His Hands Can't Hit What His Eyes Can't See". - Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., was a former three-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion and considered the greatest heavyweight of all time. With help from his daughter, Hana Yasmeen Ali, he wrote this book himself. It was intended to reflect on his life, but for many of us who lived through these times, it is a crucial touchstone to look back and confirm our thoughts.
Ali states in the introduction: “During my boxing career, you did not see the real Muhammad Ali. You just saw a little boxing and a little showmanship. It was after I retired from boxing that my true work began; I had more time than to develop my spiritual being the way that I once developed my muscles and agility.”
For many of us, it seems wrong to think that we didn’t see the real Ali during his boxing years. Even so, we didn’t just measure his early life and boxing history with only those fantastic bouts with Joe Frazier and George Foreman. His big decisions, made on principle, were made during that time. In his later life, when he went as a “Messenger of Peace” for the United Nations, those decisions, made on principle, gave him credibility.
His faith in God, expressed through his faith in Islam, responded to where those principles took him. Ali sees his later life’s battles with illness as his test of faith, where his real work began by using his faith in God to win the battle.
Ali said, "I would like to be remembered as a man who won the heavyweight title three times, was humorous, and treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him… who stood for his beliefs… who tried to unite humankind through faith and love. And if all that’s too much, then I’d settle for being remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and champion of his people. And I wouldn’t mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.” - Muhammad Ali.
A journey is well worth reflecting on.
