{"id":4376,"date":"2016-06-06T13:01:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-06T20:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/?p=4376"},"modified":"2016-06-06T13:14:55","modified_gmt":"2016-06-06T20:14:55","slug":"the-late-and-the-greatest-muhammad-ali-and-what-gets-remembered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/irreverin\/2016\/06\/the-late-and-the-greatest-muhammad-ali-and-what-gets-remembered\/","title":{"rendered":"The Late and The Greatest: Muhammad Ali, and What Gets Remembered"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I know nothing about boxing. \u00a0Except that it\u2019s a dang sight more artful and athletic than that UFC business\u00a0that is all the rage these days.<\/p>\n

Still, I feel a certain kinship with Muhammad Ali. He was a Kentuckian. Furthermore, he was a Kentuckian who wound up living in\u00a0Phoenix. Not for nothing, but Kentuckians living in Arizona is a pretty small club. And since I feel profoundly connected to both of those little points on the map, I kind of feel like I can claim his story\u2013 at least in some small part\u2013as my own.<\/p>\n

In addition to being a world class athlete, Ali was also a humanitarian and civil rights activist<\/a>; a conscientious objector<\/a>; and a strong voice for interfaith dialogue<\/a>. He was\u00a0a poet<\/a>. He was once a boy named Cassius Clay. And he\u00a0had a family.<\/p>\n

He was the greatest.<\/p>\n

\"Ali
Ali at the 1960 Olympics. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So I was grateful to hear that the city of Louisville is honoring him<\/a> for a much broader legacy than just his athletic career. From the Ali Center<\/a>, promoting interfaith cooperation, to the (pink) Clay family home\u2013in that city he is not just a sports hero, a symbol of physical strength and or an \u201cinspirational\u201d figure\u2026 but a whole person. One who had a complicated\u00a0and important life, beyond just the briefest flash of fame.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s especially important, in the current climate of Islamaphobia and escalating violence in the Middle East, that they are\u00a0emphasizing his role in the interfaith community.<\/p>\n

Fame has its price, I\u2019m sure. And it certainly had a high price for this man, who sustained significant bodily harm in the course of being \u201cgreat.\u201d But so often, the toll of fame reduces\u00a0a person\u2019s life history to a single frame\u2013a greatest hit, a best-seller, a title, or a single moment in history. And that, at least, will not be the legacy of Ali. He lived as a whole, embodied, connected person, and he will be remembered as such.<\/p>\n

Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher says: \u201cAlmost everybody\u2019s got an Ali story<\/a>.\u201d And I guess they do. Even those of us who\u00a0know not one thing about boxing.<\/p>\n

Most of us will never be \u201cThe Greatest,\u201d in the way that he was. But in the end, being great might not mean what we think it means. It\u2019s got more to do with a lifetime of little things, not the one great big thing. What stories they\u2019ll tell after we\u2019re gone; who is a little better or stronger for having known us; and\u00a0how well they remember us, down home.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know nothing about boxing. \u00a0Except that it\u2019s a dang sight more artful and athletic than that UFC business\u00a0that is all the rage these days. Still, I feel a certain kinship with Muhammad Ali. He was a Kentuckian. Furthermore, he was a Kentuckian who wound up living in\u00a0Phoenix. Not for nothing, but Kentuckians living in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":4377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,56],"tags":[1268,1267,1266,9,10,1269],"class_list":["post-4376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-being-a-person","category-spirituality-in-culture","tag-boxing","tag-louisville","tag-muhammad-ali","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-spirituality","tag-the-greatest"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Late and The Greatest: Muhammad Ali, and What Gets Remembered<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I know nothing about boxing. \u00a0Except that it's a dang sight more artful and athletic than that UFC business\u00a0that is all the rage these days. 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