Throughout my life, I never sought retribution against those who hurt me because I believe in forgiveness.

I have practiced forgiving, just as I want to be forgiven.

Rivers, ponds, lakes, and streams, they all have different names, but they all contain water.

Just as all religions do, they all contain truths.

I am America. I am the part you won't recognize,

but get used to me. Black, confident, cocky, my name, not yours. My religion, not yours. My goals,

my own. Get used to me. And of course, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can't

hit with the eyes can't

see. These are to some of the legendary quotes spoken by three-time heavyweight boxing champion,

poet, ambassador, survivor, rebel, spokesperson, trash talker, philosopher, womanizer, humanitarian,

inspirational tale, cautionary tale, the very human, the greatest,

the one of a kind, Dan Cummins. I mean, Muhammad Ali. Born Cassius, Marcellus Clay Jr.

In heavily segregated Louisville, Kentucky, Muhammad Ali grew up in a world that told him exactly

who he was allowed to be, and he

decided, nope, I'm going to be me, I'm going to be something bigger than I'm supposed to be.

He wasn't just fast in the ring, he was fast with his words, fearless in his convictions,

wildly polarizing and impossible to ignore.

From winning Olympic gold as a teenager to shocking the world against the

most feared boxer on the planet at the time, Sonny Liston, from refusing to fight in Vietnam to

facing political and cultural exile, the very height of his career. Ali made headlines because he

refused to stay quiet. Being himself was truly more important to him than being rich and famous, and he did

love to be rich and famous. Ali was so much more than a boxer. He became a symbol of resistance,

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