n 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, Navajo, 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.
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