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I have been a fan of superheroes since the day I was born.
A loving and caring mother would introduce this little boy in a plastic black mask covering the top half of his face, “This is Oliver”.
The response was always the same, “I’m not Oliver, I’m Batman”. That’s where it started.
The thing about superheroes is they allow us to escape what it means to be human, even if for just a few moments. They transcend our world and suspend our disbelief, however fleeting it may be. I used to think superheroes never actually existed. I was wrong.
As a 12-year-old, I turned on the television at my grandparents’ house and watched as a man by the name of Muhammad Ali dismantled Cleveland Williams in three rounds. I had never before seen a human being move like that. He made boxing beautiful.
Williams bounced around the ring; Ali floated. Williams threw punches; Ali threw lightning. Williams was human; Ali was a superhero. The only difference was that this man wore red gloves instead of a cape.
And then I heard him speak. He was loud and animated but never brash. It was always eloquent and pithy but he never droned. No matter the volume of his voice, his was the one that was heard the loudest.
The man that shook up the world is no longer with us, but if you look around, you’ll find that Ali left the world quivering. His greatest achievements in life aren’t the ones he achieved in a boxing ring. He was a champion of allowing human beings to be treated as equals; he taught the world to celebrate difference instead of abhorring it. Ali was the best humanity had to offer.
My words can only do so much to give this hero justice. He was a real life superhero; sometimes I wish that he wasn’t. The thing about fiction is that you never have to say goodbye to a character; Batman never dies.
Our hero, the man that shook up the world is dead, but his words will live on forever. It is precisely those words that I will leave you with. Ladies and gentlemen, Muhammad Ali:
“Last night I had a dream,
When I got to Africa,
I had one hell of a rumble.
I had to beat Tarzan’s behind first,
For claiming to be King of the Jungle.
For this fight, I’ve wrestled with alligators,
I’ve tussled with a whale.
I done handcuffed lightning
And thrown thunder in jail.
You know I’m bad.
Just last week, I murdered a rock,
Injured a stone, hospitalized a brick.
I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.
I’m so fast, man,
I can run through a hurricane and don’t get wet.
When George Foreman meets me,
He’ll pay his debt.
I can drown the drink of water, and kill a dead tree.
Wait until you see Muhammad Ali.”
Rest easy, champ.
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