Kill an American and Get $1M

I didn’t post about 9/11. And I haven’t posted about the Koran burnings and other such hateful noise that’s pierced our world. I’ve been ballooned with joy and crushed by sadness on the roller coaster that is life. While I’d like to lug around my soap box and sing out for justice and shed light on all the causes that are dear to me, I simply cannot. Plus, things have been kind of heavy around here lately. I’ve been ranting a lot so we’re due for something lighter.

But not today.

Have a look at this little piece that my dad sent me. I find it particularly poignant in light of all the hate and ignorance and intolerance burning a hole through our world.
Kill an American and Get $1M
You probably missed this in the rush of news, 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.

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.’

From Googling the source, Snopes says this was written by Peter Ferrara , a Law professor at George Mason University and was published as a comment in the National Review after 9/11. It has been somewhat modified as it made its rounds over the Internet. Regardless who wrote it or when or where, it spoke to me.