This I believe is the true definition of an American. We are 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 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.
This I believe we are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom.
Everyone who holds to that
spirit, everywhere, is an American.