Like a lot of other baby boomers, I saw a young Cassius Clay morph into Mohammed Ali.

Like a lot of other baby boomers, I saw a young Cassius Clay morph into Mohammed Ali.

 There is no doubt that Ali ‘s personal story will forever be intertwined with the story of America during the period of time he was in the ring.  Ali was part of the civil rights and Vietnam dialogues that so engulfed and shaped America during a significant portion of the fifties, sixties and seventies.

 These were of course years that played a significant role in shaping who I am today and in what we are as a nation. Although I am not a boxing fan, I do recall the great Mohamed Ali´s boxing matches and his persistence, bravado and zest for life. Mohamed Ali wanted to shape his life, his future and his profession. I admire that determination and persistence. I am the same in so many ways.

 This past week learned that boxing great Ken Norton passed away. He of course as we all remember as the man who knocked-out Ali and broke his jaw.Mohamed Ali was not going to let that defeat determine him, and he came back to beat Norton  in a subsequent match.  The rest, as they say, is history.

 My thoughts today are not of boxing of course, but of the passage of time. It seems that it was just yesterday when we were in our twenties and today we are not. Time moves inexorably towards the culmination of each of our lives and does not stop to give us much time during which to polish our image. Therefore, one can only hope that we have been as successful as Ali in shaping our lives and our profession.

One can only hope that we have made the right decisions when confronted with a fork in the road; that we have chosen the right path to follow each time. No doubt that it is up to each of us to determine how we will be remembered by those who know us today; by our family, our friends and our co-workers.

 Let us hope then that it will be the sum total of our lives that will describe who we are and how we lived and not a single defeat, or that one single event that knocked us out. Ali knew to get up dust off and try again and so should we. If we have faulted then we must get up, dust off and try again.  Life waits for no one, time moves on and we must be prepared to live each day as our last.

 I am Attorney Martin E. Regan Jr.  and these are my personal thoughts.