Americans
>
> 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, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian,
> or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan. An American may also
> be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache,
> Seminole, 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 person 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.
>
> The 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,
> 2001 earning a better life for their families. I've been told that the
> World Trade Center victims were from a least 30 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 modern 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.
>
> Pass this around the World...on the American
> Internet, I might add.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
D R
