Assertion journal

This assertion journal is a response to I Am Still the Greatest by Muhammad Ali.


I personally believe Muhammad Ali is one of the cockiest people on the planet. He states, “I boasted weekly — if not daily — that one day I was going to be the heavyweight champion of the world”, he shows in this quote that he had no sense of failure. Even though he has the skills to back up what he is saying, there really is no reason for him to boast about it so prominently. Real athletes show sportsmanship and help one another out, instead of boasting about how good they are. The athletes I truly admire are those who have proven to be best and yet are the most humble people on earth. For example, Cal Ripken Jr. was one of the greatest baseball players on earth, yet he never in his life boasted on how he was better than everyone else. When you reach this level of your career, you should be able to help others out, instead of writing on how you are the greatest.
At the end of his article Ali shows how much he admires self when he says, “…I realized I had the eyes of the world on me.” He believed that the whole world revolved around him, yet the world kept turning after he retired. His final boast in his article is “Nothing in life has defeated me. I am still the "Greatest.” Through everything he has been through, the only thing that has defeated him was humility.

Essay from: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102649267