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Muhammad Ali and the power of words
Remembering the Greatest, four years on
In a time of hype, sensationalism and hyperbole, often words get overused to the point they diminish the true meaning.
Words like legend, great, inspiration, world class, leader, hero, impactful, pioneer, game-changer, humanitarian, iconic, empowering, activist. These are powerful words. We use many of these interchangeably to describe someone who has done well in their industry or chosen field. We call the founder of a big company a pioneer and a good footballer world class. We call a fireman a hero and a head of a charity a humanitarian. A dress might be iconic, and a new pizza topping could be a game changer.
Today is the 4th anniversary of his death — and we are reminded of what all of those words truly mean. Having one of those words describe you would mean that you probably lived a successful life. Having ALL of these words (and more) describe you like they described Muhammad Ali, is something else, entirely. This was an entire different species of ‘celebrity’ — yet he remained humble and a man of the people until his final breath.
We champion the ‘celebrity’ today like never before. We fawn over Z-listers and consume their lives instead of living our own. We aspire for fame and glory ourselves — without doing a smidgen of the work…
