Thirty years ago, I was honored to be invited into Muhammad Ali's hotel suite in downtown Detroit at the Westin Hotel.
I could tell Parkinson's was setting in. Still enough there to know he was The Greatest.
Mrs. Ali gave me permission to sit close to her husband and remind him of a time when the Chicago O'Hare airport was shut down due to snow. All the VIPs, including Ali, had hotel rooms waiting for them.
All the others, tough shit.
Muhammad Ali refused to go his hotel room for the night until everyone in the airport received a meal, a pillow and a blanket. A friend of mine was at the airport that night and told me.
I looked into Mr. Ali's eyes and told him, 'this is why you are The Greatest'.
Tears of joy coming down from Mrs. Ali's face. Mr. Ali autographed a local Mosque pamphlet and handed it to me.
Next day, a major earthquake hit Indonesia. Tens of thousands homeless.
Smiled when I read in the newspaper Muhammad Ali was already there telling the authorities everyone must have a tent, food, and whatnot.
Again, I am honored to have had a few moments alone, heart to heart, with The Greatest.
A few years later, the daughter of the Bangladesh Diplomat tried to convert me to Islam. I politely declined and gave her a donation to her charity. I enjoyed our lunches together, discussing geopolitics.
Today, I am a nobody. Totally ignored, poor. But that's ok.
Kind of think Allah will appreciate it more I join now humbled, instead of back then full of pride.
Can't even afford to buy a Quran right now. How can I get one?
Didn't intend to highjack this thread.
But it was this current ethnic cleansing if the Palestinians that finally got me to thinking to finally submit to Allah.
