Boxer Muhammad Ali's advice to his daughter

Northen Southener —

(Unverified source but you get the message right?)

An incident transpired when Muhammad Ali's daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing. Here is the story as told by one of his daughters:



“When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father's suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day. My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get to them."



He looked at me with serious eyes. "Your body is sacred. You're far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too."

11 comments

Hummus Fri, 11 May 2012 - 09:48

Yepp, message received!

Its an example of how we should protect ourselves and be modest by covering approapriatly, taking resevation in speech, in the way we approach people, lowering our gaze, our walking style, basically being modest in every aspect of our lives! (Its hard, right?!)

Northen Southener Fri, 11 May 2012 - 10:07

Hummus

(Its hard, right?!)

A great teacher of mine once said to me "it's only as hard as you want to make it"

He also said "life is really simple, WE complicate it"

(I don't know where I'm going with this, but it seems like the right thing to say)

You Sat, 12 May 2012 - 20:08

Titanium

You

Titanium

I find this patronising. Why?

 

Because you;re not his daughter.

One and two because it came from the male species.

 

To his daughter. Who's temperament he was probably aware of. and if this is an excerpt from somewhere, it was probably an effective use of parental guidance.

How do you think a parent should address ... issues with offspring? It seems he tried to communicate, try to explain and be caring etc  too. instead of just making a demand.

Northen Southener Sun, 13 May 2012 - 12:20

I do, but I thought the meaning on your "teenagers word of the day" calender may be different to the real definition.

What I'm trying to say is, I don't understand how an innocent good natured message like this one can be translated as patronising.

LookingToSee Wed, 16 May 2012 - 09:19

maybe its coz you have strong (usually negative and against the norm) opinions? that might get a reaction...

 

i dont see how you see it as patronizing, i need your eyes. its a dad talking (for once) to his daughter. in a nice way. he didnt force her to do anything or order her abt or humiliate her or ground her or shout at her or any horrible thing.

 

i liked it, thanks for sharing.

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