Dear Editor,
He was a legend in his time, and one of that even rarer breed: a legend towering over other legends. Like a Colossus, he stood astride his environment and bent it to his will. He made it better. Muhammad Ali made all of us better.
As a mere stripling lad, I thought he had it wrong with his provocative self-destructive Vietnam stance. Time has shown that he was ahead of his own time, that he had it right all along, and that he proved the rest of us wrong. Here was a man in his prime, who had the courage and character to stand by his convictions. Oh, he had many of them, all immovable in intensity. What a character, what a craftsman, what a champion for the ages, this reviled man who became a citizen of the world!
Ali knew what he represented before the world (and who), what he brought to the tribunal of condemnation, and what the likely consequences of his stances and actions would be. And yet he never shrank. Never! Therein lies another lesson for us frail, lesser mortals. It is that even when the odds are overwhelmingly against, stay the course. Believe in self.
If there is one thing I learned from this great citizen of the world, it is this: even when the whole world rails intimidatingly against in rage and malice, take a stand; stand for something, stand tall, stand apart and, if matters come to that, stand alone. He did, and repeatedly.
He did so as ex-champion, government target, public enemy and fearless talker, and through self-sacrifice, among a near endless display of what is noble and yet intrinsically human at the core. The man was a warrior with that indomitable spirit that separates the truly greatest from the merely great. And that he was, whether from the dazzle of a now barbaric sport, or within the smoggy barbed-wire confines of Parkinson’s prison. How hard that must have been for this proud, independent man who conquered one world, and then did the same to a few others.
Throughout all of it, the good times and the hard times, he was class and dignity and strength personified. The world has lost a magnificent role model. I know I have. Rest softly champ; hear the accolades of angels singing and men weeping. Let the rest talk about you, who did so much talking for us. Three score and ten and a tad it was, but what a one it was! This bout is over.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
