If you are one of those people who feel compelled to put your
thoughts down on paper (like I do) there are no shortage of sources to draw
ideas from.
Since I started publishing online about years ago, I have
produced just under 400 separate articles, which cover 62 different topics. To
date, I’ve had just under 250,000 “hits” on those articles at various places
around the world, and I’ve been read in something like 100 countries, some of
which I have never heard from. After the United States, the 2nd most
common place my writings have been in is Russia. More than likely, some of my
thoughts have been read by employees of the Internet Research Agency, a
Kremlin-backed troll farm that placed fake Facebook ads during the 2016
election campaign.
Yesterday, I monitored an English class at a local high
school, and wound up playing the YouTube video of Oprah Winfrey’s visit to
Auschwitz with Elie Weisel in 2006. It’s a very powerful film, and it almost
inspired me to write about it. However, since I viewed it on the same day as
the United States dedicated its new (and ill-advised) new embassy in Jerusalem,
I decided that I had had enough bad news for the day.
The idea from the title shown above came to me in a dream, and
it wasn’t the first time that I have gotten ideas that way.
When I was still in high school, a brash young man names
Cassius Clay became the WBA, WBC, and lineal heavyweight championships at the
tender age of 22. He loudly proclaimed “I am the greatest”, and he BRIEFLY had
the admiration of a large number of people.
Not long after winning his championship, he converted to
Islam, and changed his named to Muhammad Ali, which infuriated a bunch of his
fans. Two years later, he refused induction into the U.S. military, which caused
him to be stripped of his titles for 5 years, at which time his titles were
reinstated by the Supreme Court.
Ali was one of the leading 20th century boxers, and
remains the ONLY three time lineal heavyweight champion. After his retirement
at the age of 39, Ali focused on religion and charity, and eventually helped
feed more than 22,000,000 people affected by hunger.
If we expand beyond Muhammad Ali, what exactly DOES make a
person the greatest?
Scholars still debate whether Michael Jordan or Lebron James
is the greatest basketball player, or whether Tiger Woods is still the greatest
golfer, or Abe Lincoln is still the best president.
Not all “the great ones” are as bodacious as Ali was, but
people that are “the greatest” share two qualities.
(1)
They are confident
(2)
They are persistent
Cassius Clay started boxing at the age of 12, and won an
Olympic gold medal when he was only 18 years old. During his boxing career, he
beat 21 boxers for the world heavyweight title, and is the only boxer to be
named fighter of the year six times by Ring magazine.
Michael Jordan tried out for the varsity team when he was a
sophomore in high school, but was cut from the team. Determined to prove his
worth, Jordan trained vigorously, and became the star of the junior varsity
tram. The following hear, he made the
varsity team. When he was a senior, he was selected to the McDonald’s
All-American Team. In college, he selected to the NCAA All-American First team,
and was drafter by the NBA before he graduated. Eventually, he led the Chicago
Bulls to six national championships. In his retirement years, he became the
first former player to become the majority owner of an NBA team, the Charlotte
Bobcats. Despite the team’s dismal record, its ownership (along with his
lucrative sponsorships) allowed Jordan to become the first former athlete to
become a billionaire. As of March, 2018, his net wroth is $1.65 billion.
Tiger Woods started playing golf before he was 2 years old, and
played against Bob Hope in a television show when he was 3. Starting in 1988,
when he was 13, he won the Junior World Golf Championships, which he went on to
win 5 more times. At the age of 15, he became the youngest winner ever of the
U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. At the age of 19, he became the youngest ever
U.S. Amateur, and a year later, he turned pro. At the age of 21, he became the
youngest ever winner of the Masters at Augusta, Georgia.
His awards and records are almost too numerous to mention, but
they are all listed in the link shown below. He is also the 2nd
person known to walk on water.
Despite personal and physical setbacks, Tiger Woods is still
competing today, and he has an accumulated net worth of $740 million.
Abe Lincoln is consistently ranked the best president America
has ever had, but he had NUMEROUS setbacks before he was elected president in
1860, including being defeated for public office on six different occasions.
We’re all good at some things, and terrible at other things,
but all of us are capable of greatness if we set our minds to it. If you have
any doubts at all about that, consider the story of J.K. Rowling, whose story
is listed below.
Before her first Harry Potter book was published, she was a
single mom living on state benefits. With the success of the Harry Potter
series, she became the first writer in history to become a billionaire. Even though
she has given enough of her fortune away to charity to lose her billionaire
status, she is STILL worth 600 million British Pounds, (about $800 million
U.S.)
Remember- YOU are the greatest, which is why YOU were Time
magazines person of the year in 2006.
Great story
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