It's kind of funny who we consider national heroes these days. Take boxer Muhammad Ali for instance. This is a fairly despicable man if you look at his track record, but because he was clobbered in the head too many times and managed to get himself brain damage, we treat him like he is a demigod. It just goes to show that pain or heartache is the trump card when we consider the merit of a person. Case in point, many people will want to say to me, "Monica, you can't say that Muhammad Ali was an adulterer. For God's sake, he's got Parkinsons disease!" So what? That doesn't change the facts. And speaking of facts, lets look at them.

Cassius Clay, Ali's pre-Islam, becomes a member of the militant and racist organization, The Nation of Islam. Notable members include Malcom X and Louis Farrakhan.

In 1964, Ali, a brute who made his living thrashing other people, dodged the Vietnam draft because he was a "conscientious objector." I'm not making this stuff up. Really, the entire time when Ali was throwing punches at people's heads, he was trying to send a peace offering in the name of Islam.

The promoter of some of Ali's fights, was the one and only Don King, who served time in prison for killing a business partner.

Ali was a known womanizer, who has been married four times and has several children, two of which are from extramarital relationships.

And this is the guy to whom we give humanitarian awards. We laud him for his courage and uprightness. We name athletic centers for children after him. We let him light our Olympic torch. We let a draft dodger light the American Olympic torch. Has Ali done some good things for charity? Sure, after he was too old and to ill to pummel other bruisers, cheat on his wives, and spit vitriol about the white enemy.

We ought to look for heroes who have always done good deeds even when it didn't benefit them or their public image. We ought to praise people who make the right moral decisions even when it's hard and even when no one is looking. Mother Theresa is a great example of this. Instead, we are ready to canonize anyone as soon as a tragedy befalls them, no matter how much of a degenerate they were before said tragedy.

But perhaps I shouldn't attack Muhammad Ali's merit. He's got Parkinson's for God's sake.