I’m the greatest, Muhammad Ali
We’re more famous than Jesus Christ, John Lennon speaking of the Beatles
I gave my beauty and my youth to men. I am going to give my wisdom and experience to animals, Brigitte Bardot
There are, there were other “extreme” people on this planet and they are fascinating. We love them or we hate them. They dare to say things we wouldn’t dare to say. They do things we wouldn’t dare to do. We say: “Wow, (s)he’s cheeky !” We think: “Oups, I’d like be like them”. Actually, we need them to make things move. Because they’re cheeky, they speak out louder and make the world change.
I was thinking of all that last Sunday when I heard of Muhammad Ali’s, alias Cassius Clay, death. This man was extreme as I like: he was fighting like a street savvy guy on the ring but was smart and could be sophisticated when talking about his values. He was courageous when he refused to join the US army and make war to North Vietnam. He was as important as Martin Luther King to make the black community fully recognized in their own country. His extremeness made him an icon and he could then disseminate his ideas.
John Lennon, one of the world famous former member of The Beatles, is another example. Lennon did incredible things in the 60’s and 70’s. The younger generations know about his song “Imagine” but they don’t know about the incredible things he did. With his wife Yoko Ono, he held two week-long Bed-Ins for Peace, one in Amsterdam and one at Montreal, each of which were intended to be non-violent protests against wars, and experimental tests of new ways to promote peace. It was an incredible scandal. But it created a huge global anti-war movement. We would like to have people like this today !
A last example is Brigitte Bardot. Most of you don’t know her because she quite low key in people press now. Actually, Bardot was one of the most beautiful woman and sexiest star of the 60’s-70’s. She was so extreme in her sexiness that it allowed young women of that time to make them free of men stereotypes. Actually, she was not a great actress but she was a great icon. After an incredible career in cinema and several marriages, she stopped that life to devote her fame and energy to the well being of animals. She created a foundation Bardot fighting for animal rights for years, a very trendy opinion movement now. Bardot is now an old lady, still moving, still fighting, criticized by some for her right wing thoughts but she made things change, we can’t deny that ! Respect ! 
It’s strange, reviewing this post, that my all three examples are from the 60’s. Maybe the society today doesn’t let extreme people express themselves.Or maybe it’s because I was struck by these characters when I was a teen. Or maybe some are around that I don’t see. Tomorrow, I’m going to look around for the extreme people of today !
Be inspired !
Jean-Pierre Baeyens 