LEOBARB'S
PAGES
WE
ARE AMERICANS!
You probably missed it in
the rush of news last week,
but there was actually a
report that someone in another country
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,
Australian, Iranian, Asian,
Arab, Pakistani, or Afghan.
An American may also be a
Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navajo, 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 on 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 many more, other
countries, cultures, and first languages.
Included in these, were people
from the same countries
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.
***
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, as always, will
welcome them!
GOD
BLESS OUR WONDERFUL NATION!
LET FREEDOM RING!
POEM
SENT IN BY ALLISON - NORTH DAKOTA
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