*forwarded email*

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 one of 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 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 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
particular place. They are the
embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone
who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.