Subject: An American
Finally someone says it right !!!
>
> 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 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 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 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.
> God Bless America!
>
> Pass this around the World.

Holmes Stoner