What on Earth were you thinking of God when you did this senseless act to Muhammad Ali?
By Stanley Collymore
I would’ve willingly and quite unreservedly without a
moment’s hesitation gone in you place my Black
brother, inspirational mentor and my enduring
friend as I’m equally and absolutely sure that
many more not only of our Black race but
every other one would also freely have
done, but God in his supposed objective
evaluation evidently decided Muhammad Ali that
your time inexplicably had come and therefore
our earnest wishes however sincerely and
rather heartfelt were spoken and most
particularly after your last illness,
which seemingly he graciously
accepted, somehow it seemed
just couldn’t practicably for
whatever reason, he never
ever said, be realistically
entertained, sanctioned
and most certainly not
be agreed to by him.
Why not? I’m still perplexed to know and just
goes to show that even the great ostensibly
omnipotent and allegedly all-knowing
Deity actually can and does at times,
and markedly so as in this specific
situation, get things quite horribly,
rather uncomfortably and most
terribly wrong! And yes I’m
scathingly angered by this
assessment of his to take
your life on Earth away
from you Muhammad
Ali in this premature
and pointless way!
Surely Heaven has already had a superfluity of truly
great people taken away from us in this year alone.
So why the imperative need for another one who
has single-handedly done so much for his long
standing and unremittingly victimized race
specially, as well as for the rest of human
kind generally and whose irreplaceable
loss at this particular period of our
existence will not only serve to
aggravate our already escalating and egregious
societal problems that you assiduously and
diligently with creditable aplomb have
worked to alleviate Muhammad Ali;
but now with you regrettably gone
will more than likely provide an
uncalled for catalyst-situation
for greater racial intolerance akin to that
of bygone eras while simultaneously
being a disastrous body blow, and
inestimably so, to the remainder
of civilized, law-abiding and
peace-loving elements of
our routinely hard-done
by and long suffering
inclusive humanity!
© Stanley V. Collymore
6 June 2016.
Author’s Thoughts:
I’m absolute shell-shocked and indignantly angered by God’s utterly senseless and premature decision to remove Muhammad Ali from the midst of us; and to do so at a time when this infernal world that we live in needs more and NOT less people like him.
But even with him regrettably gone those like me who worshipped him, unstintingly regarded him as our mentor and fully appreciated all the commendable things that he did and carried on doing throughout his life and right up to the moment he was cruelly taken away from us are not unbowed by the state of affairs we’re left in but will in characteristic Muhammad Ali fashion relentlessly and unwaveringly carry on with his work whatever obstacles are put in our way or however insurmountable the odds against us achieving our laudable goals might appear to be; and for me that’s a categorical promise!
And so my inspirational mentor and friend your earthly departure is not the end, for in me personally and I’m sure millions more globally both you and your impressive legacy will continue to be enduring factors in our individual and collective lives. And accordingly as a tribute to you conjoined with an indebted appreciation for all that you’ve generously and admirably done I’ve penned this personal motto in Latin specifically for you and in your remembrance Muhammad Ali: “Vos autem sicut homines raro. Mortuus est semel, sed solum vivat in aeternum!” Translated into English it reads: “People like you are rare; die only once but live eternally!” And in German: “Leute wie Sie sind selten; nur einmal gestorben, sondern ewig leben!
