”To Kill an American or Canadian”

You probably missed it in the rush of news a number of years ago, 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 or Canadian, any American or Canadian.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American or Canadian is, so they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!) He writes:

An American or Canadian 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 or Canadian may also be a Cree, Sioux, Nez Perce, Assiniboine, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as Native Americans or First Nations Canadians.

An American or Canadian is Christian, or he/she could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America or Canada than in Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American or Canadian is also free to believe in no religion. For that he/she will answer only to God, not to the government, nor to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American or Canadian 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 or in the Canadian Bill of Rights, which recognizes the God-given right of each person to free speech, movement, thought, worship and the pursuit of happiness..

An American or Canadian is generous. Americans or Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans and Canadians 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 and Canadians 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, and the maple leaf flag of Canada, 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 the USA and Canada. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families there and “back home” in countries around the world.
 
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 or Canadian if you must. Hitler did. So did Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants of the past. But in doing so you would just be killing yourself. For you see, Americans and Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom and their roots are from every country in the world. In that sense, everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American or a Canadian.

Pass this around the World. Then pass it around again.
It says it all, for all of us – black, white, yellow, brown, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, etc.