320 Years of History
Gold Member
We last week lost "The Greatest." Muhammad Ali was a fighter who showed us what to fight for as much as how to do it. As the world mourns his passing, countless news programs replay clips of his life. I sincerely hope that in watching them, Americans don't focus only on his greatness as a fighter but also on the greatness of is character, most especially his integrity.
We all by now have been reminded of the big illustrations of Ali's integrity. His conscientious objection to fighting in the Vietnam war. There were serious and damaging consequences for doing that, but Ali didn't try to weasel his way out of them. He knew he'd "made his bed" and was prepared to lay in it. Why? Because he had a core set of principles and, for better or worse, he meant to adhere to them.
Interviewed by Howard Cosell, Ali was directly asked why, after having previously stating he wouldn't return to boxing, he was doing the exact opposite. Did Ali try to spin his answer? Absolutely not. He owned the fact that he was then doing exactly the opposite of what he'd said he would not do, telling Cosell, "Because I've changed my mind," going on then to explain why he did so.
In examining those two moments from Ali's life, we are reminded of what it means to be a principled man. A decision can change, but a principle rarely does. We are shown that a man of principle doesn't adjust them to fit everyone else's view of whom he should be; he says, "This is who I am," and leaves it to us to figure out who we are and whether we can get behind him or not, but whether we like it or not, he's not going to be someone else. In answering Cosell's question as plainly as he did, Ali showed his commitment to the principle of simply telling the simple truth and owning one's own truth, come what may. Can there even be any other principle that is as easy to uphold, and that makes adhering to whatever other principles one has easier to uphold?
Contrast Ali, a fighter in every sense of the word, a man who was braggadocious, bombastic, and as a pugilist, bellicose, with any of today's politicians, but most especially with the GOP's presumptive nominee, who is no less belligerent and boisterous and whom many have described as a fighter and a "counter-puncher." The differences are palpably clear. Ali was astutely aggressive in the ring, yet and advocate for amity and accord outside it. Ali had enduring principles, ones we appreciated and saw demonstrated over and over, whereas God only knows what, if any principles Trump has. All humanity can see it's certainly not that he will religiously tell the simple truth and that it is not that he will own his truth.
Trump, of course, is not alone as a politician who lies, so to some it may seem I've above unfairly singled him out; however, I think not. In today's political climate, people with the Ali's integrity have become extinct. Thus we voters must to our dismay choose not among a selection of candidates whose integrity is beyond reproach, but among only those of which it can only be said their integrity ranges from low to so-so. Of many politicians and candidates, it's hard to discern what principles they do have. But what separates Trump from all the rest is that I can find that the has only one, "Nothing is beneath me when it comes to having my way. Thus in all things, it's my way or the highway." Moreover, as goes the most basic principle of all, one that need have no nuance, telling the truth and owning one's own truth, Trump has demonstrated nearly 100 times by one organization's tabulation that he has absolutely no regard for the truth, that to him the truth is but a malleable means to an end, that is if it will help him achieve that end.
Trump claims he wants to make America great again. Well, even assuming it's not great now, it's not going to ever be great again if the man who is the most inveterate liar known to modern politics, a man who spews untruths like an animal marking territory, ends up in the White House. Trump can't see that, but hopefully come November, American voters can.
We all by now have been reminded of the big illustrations of Ali's integrity. His conscientious objection to fighting in the Vietnam war. There were serious and damaging consequences for doing that, but Ali didn't try to weasel his way out of them. He knew he'd "made his bed" and was prepared to lay in it. Why? Because he had a core set of principles and, for better or worse, he meant to adhere to them.
Interviewed by Howard Cosell, Ali was directly asked why, after having previously stating he wouldn't return to boxing, he was doing the exact opposite. Did Ali try to spin his answer? Absolutely not. He owned the fact that he was then doing exactly the opposite of what he'd said he would not do, telling Cosell, "Because I've changed my mind," going on then to explain why he did so.
In examining those two moments from Ali's life, we are reminded of what it means to be a principled man. A decision can change, but a principle rarely does. We are shown that a man of principle doesn't adjust them to fit everyone else's view of whom he should be; he says, "This is who I am," and leaves it to us to figure out who we are and whether we can get behind him or not, but whether we like it or not, he's not going to be someone else. In answering Cosell's question as plainly as he did, Ali showed his commitment to the principle of simply telling the simple truth and owning one's own truth, come what may. Can there even be any other principle that is as easy to uphold, and that makes adhering to whatever other principles one has easier to uphold?
Contrast Ali, a fighter in every sense of the word, a man who was braggadocious, bombastic, and as a pugilist, bellicose, with any of today's politicians, but most especially with the GOP's presumptive nominee, who is no less belligerent and boisterous and whom many have described as a fighter and a "counter-puncher." The differences are palpably clear. Ali was astutely aggressive in the ring, yet and advocate for amity and accord outside it. Ali had enduring principles, ones we appreciated and saw demonstrated over and over, whereas God only knows what, if any principles Trump has. All humanity can see it's certainly not that he will religiously tell the simple truth and that it is not that he will own his truth.
Trump, of course, is not alone as a politician who lies, so to some it may seem I've above unfairly singled him out; however, I think not. In today's political climate, people with the Ali's integrity have become extinct. Thus we voters must to our dismay choose not among a selection of candidates whose integrity is beyond reproach, but among only those of which it can only be said their integrity ranges from low to so-so. Of many politicians and candidates, it's hard to discern what principles they do have. But what separates Trump from all the rest is that I can find that the has only one, "Nothing is beneath me when it comes to having my way. Thus in all things, it's my way or the highway." Moreover, as goes the most basic principle of all, one that need have no nuance, telling the truth and owning one's own truth, Trump has demonstrated nearly 100 times by one organization's tabulation that he has absolutely no regard for the truth, that to him the truth is but a malleable means to an end, that is if it will help him achieve that end.
Trump claims he wants to make America great again. Well, even assuming it's not great now, it's not going to ever be great again if the man who is the most inveterate liar known to modern politics, a man who spews untruths like an animal marking territory, ends up in the White House. Trump can't see that, but hopefully come November, American voters can.
