To Kill an American

[OntarioVanMan]

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. (Good one, mate!!!!)


'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 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.

 

[layoutshooter]

What a shame that our present government does not share what this artical speaks about. They believe that we are evil and the main cause of the worlds problems. They want to tear us apart and weaken us so we will not be a military power. What they seem to forget is that we will no longer be able to give the world all that help that he mentions. We will not longer have the wealth to give. That is the flaw of this government. I have always been proud of my country. We have a First Lady who has never been proud. What a horrible example of an American. Layoutshooter

 

[Turtle]

Americans take great delight in warm tributes to America and Americans authored by citizens of other nations. So much so that often something written by an American will be attributed to someone of another country, as is the case of this piece. The "What is an American?" article quoted above was not penned by an Australian (or even a dentist), but by Peter Ferrara, an associate professor of law at the George Mason University School of Law in Northern Virginia. Mr. Ferrara's commentary was originally published in the National Review on 25 September 2001.

This piece has had many additions and deletions put forth onto the Internet. Entire chunks of the original were left out here, other chunks were added. And in an attempt at taking the near perfection of the original to a level of a grandiose self-praise of America, some of it was edited in truly bizarre fashion to yield completely different meanings.

The original is definitely worth a read.

 

[layoutshooter]

Reguardless of it's original form I stand by what I say. It is time that Americans start acting like the great people we are. We have provided more charity than any other country on earth. We do more for the environment than most other countries. Liberals tend to have big flowerly dream while tearing down all that we have done right. We have to understand the good we have done and work on our mistakes and failings. We should NEVER think that the failings are our only legecy. This is not the time to throw the baby out with the bath water. We are just fine here. We don't need a complete makeover. We have a few opportunities to improve right now but I don't for one minute fall for all the doom and gloom this administration and congress is ramming down our throats. As for the rest of the world and what they me think of this country, our people, I don't really care. If they don't like how we are I am sure we can use the money and other types of aid we are sending to all corners of the world right here. I shudder to think what the world would be like if we had acted like the whinny bunch that run this country in 1940-1985. We should be proud of the sacrifices we made. Layoutshooter