What Is An American?

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

A nice lady from New Zealand sent me this a few minutes ago. Butch

 

This is very true. Aren't you glad you are American?

 

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was

actually a report that an offer of a reward had been published in a

Pakistani newspaper 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 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.

 

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, earning a better life for their families. I've been told that the

World Trade Center victims were from at 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 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. Pass this

around the World.