"You probably missed it in the 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 I just thought I
would write to let them know what an
American is, so they would know when they
found one."

An American is English, French, Italian, Irish,
German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An
American may also be Mexican, African,
Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Asian, Australian,
Iranian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan. An
American may also be a Cherokee, Osage,
Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, or one of the many
other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian,, or he could be
Jewish, 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 man and woman 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. 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. The best products, the
best books, the best music, the best food, the
best athletes.

Americans welcome the best, but they also
welcome the least. The national symbol of
America 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 in the
morning of September 11, earning a better life
for their families. (I've been told that the
people in the Towers were from at least 30,
and maybe more, 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 blood thirsty 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.

So look around you. You may find more
Americans in your land than you thought were
there. One day they will rise up and overthrow
the old, ignorant, tired tyrants that trouble too
many lands. Then those lands, too, will join
the community of free and prosperous nations.
And America will welcome them!