When I was a young boy all my mom’s friends said I looked like Muhammad Ali. I didn’t realize at that age what a compliment I was receiving. I just thought her friends said that as an excuse to pinch my cheeks (something they could never get close enough to Ali to do).

He was a man who fought for what he believed far outside of the ring. He was courageous in the face of overwhelming opposition. He took on the US federal government and military, and he won. But to get there he was willing to lose everything.

He was also a Muslim, and in a season in which a major party presidential nominee has made official policy out of anti-Muslim rhetoric (while praising Ali, mind you) I think it is important to remember that we cannot persecute entire groups without also persecuting the greatest among us.

Here is one of my favorite Ali quotes. Cynicism is en vogue nowadays, but these words help remind me that we don’t have to accept the limits of other people’s thinking.

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

Final thought: visit the Ali Museum in Louisville Kentucky. It will inspire you.