An American

How To Kill An American
Written by an Australian Dentist

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 an editorial the
following day 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 bea Comanche, 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 lives in 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, never asking a thing in return.
When Afghanistan was over-run 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 of everything...
the best products, the best books, the best music,
the best food, the best services. 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. It's been told that the World Trade Center
victims were from at least 30 different 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 other blood-thirsty
tyrants in 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."