An American
The following was said to be written by a
dentist in Australia.
"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 I just thought I would write to let them 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
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 one of the many other tribes known as native
Americans.
An American is Christian, or he 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, or to armed thugs
claiming to speak for the government and 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 the Soviet army overran Afghanistan 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.
The best products, the best books, the
best music, the best food, the best athletes; Americans welcome the best, but
they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America 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 in the morning of
September 11, earning a better life for their families. I've been told that the
people in the Towers were from at least 30, and maybe many more, other
countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and
abetted the terrorists.
So you can try to kill an American if you
must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse Tung, and every
bloodthirsty tyrant in the history of the world. But, in doing so you would
just be killing yourself, because Americans are not a particular people from a
particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that
spirit, everywhere, is an American.
So look around you. You may find more
Americans in your land than you thought were there. One day they will rise up
and overthrow the old, ignorant, tired tyrants that trouble too many lands.
Then those lands, too, will join the community of free and prosperous nations.