Deconstructing Corky

After searching the web for countless hours, this is the only white dude i could find that would be able to stand toe to toe with the Champ, and the cracker isn't even from the planet earth.

Today me, my mother and father and my wife spent part of our day at the Muhammad Ali Center, located in downtown Louisville KY. Within 5 minuets of watching the first documentary, called IF, I was choking down my tears. There is so much information on Ali, its incredible. The next time you ever make it out this way, aside from visiting all the pawnshops and eating at 5 star resturants like Steak-n-Shake and Waffle House, leave time in your schedule for an afternoon at the Ali Center. It will knock you out.

IF, is a poem by Rudyard Kipling. I'm sure most of you read it when you were in the third grade or so. I'm sure I read it, probably in the 10th grade along with the Outsiders and a Clifford book , but today is the first day I have ever heard it. If you have the time please reacquaint yourself with it NOW, http://www.swarthmore.edu/~apreset1/docs/if.html, and then come back for another dose of Corky.

There are a few lines in this poem that really touched me. The first one that i'm going to annalize today, "If you can dream--and not make dreams your master". When I was 16 or 17, I achieved the only real dream I ever had. When I was 13 I started practicing Tae Kwon Do. Shortly after that I saw my first Tae Kwon Do demonstration. This was the first time I ever actually witnessed human beings flying, breaking through solid objects with their feet and hands, and moving at blinding speeds. You can just imagine what was going through Captain Corky's head at the time.

About a year and half later I was a blue belt and it was my turn to break boards for the first time. Specifically three one inch pine boards stacked together, with a roundhouse kick. I bowed to the judges, lined up on a 45 degree angle from the wood, closed my eyes and kicked. When I opened my eyes, there were 6 boards on the floor. People were applauding and I was in a state of euphoria that no drug, drink, roulette wheel or fish, could possibly ever replicate. It was the first time in my life I was ever proud of myself. I spent the next three days higher than a kite. Some people describe moments like these as a moment of clarity, or a spiritual awakening. That was the day my fantasies became my reality. I was going to become a black belt. From that moment on, I spent every waking moment thinking about it. My dream or passion became very infectious. My mother and father also started practing and so did most of my friends, and most of them including mom and dad became blackbelts. By the time i became a black belt, it wasn't that big a deal to me because i knew that it would happen. In alot of ways i feel like i became a black belt when i broke those boards when i was a blue belt.

I have also seen people consumed by dreams, but you have to admire somebody who goes after his or her dream, regardless of the outcome. And even when their dreams become their master, it's still better than if they never pursued those dreams at all.

I will be here all night if i continue on, so for now i would just like to say thanks to Muhammad Ali, for continuing to inspire all of us mild mannered mortals. Stay tuned for the next installment of Deconstructing Corky.