What
Is An American?
You probably missed it in the rush of news last week,
but there was actually a report that someone in
Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a
reward to anyone who killed an American - any
American.
So, an Australian dentist wrote the following to
let everyone know what an American is, so they would know
when they found one.
An American is English, or French, or Italian,
Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek.
An American may, also, be Canadian,
Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese,
Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or
Afghan. An American may, also, be a
Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, or
oneof the many other tribes known as
native Americans.
An American is Christian, or he or she could
be Jewish, or
Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims
in America
than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in
America
they
are free to worship as each of them chooses.
An American
is also free to believe in no religion. For that
he
will answer only
to God, not to the government, nor to armed
thugs
claiming to speak
for the government or for God.
An American is from the most
prosperous land in the history of the
world. The root of that
prosperity can be found in the Declaration
of Independence, which
recognizes the God given right of each man
and woman to the pursuit of
happiness.
An American is generous. Americans have helped out
just about
every other nation in the world in their time of need.
When
Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army 20 years
ago,
Americans
came with arms and supplies to enable the people to
win
back their
country. As of the morning of September 11, Americans
had
given
more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.
Americans welcome the best - the best products,
the
best books,
the best music, the best food, the best
athletes.
But they also welcome the least.
One national
symbol of America,
The Statue of Liberty, welcomes "your tired and
your
poor, the
wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless,
tempest
tossed." These in fact are the people
who built America. Some of
them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of
September 11, earning a better life for their families.
I've been told that the World Trade Center victims
were from at
least 30 other countries and cultures with first languages
other
than English - including those countries of the 9/11
terrorists.
So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler
tried. So
did General Tojo, Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and
every bloodthirsty
tyrant in the history of the world. But, doing so
would be futile
because Americans are not a particular people from a particularplace. They are the embodiment of the human
spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.
Pass this around the World.
