To Kill an American

Last week, in the midst of all the uproar in the Muslim communities about the Mohammed cartoons, I had a new little girl join my Brownie troop - she's in my daughter's third grade class. We were discussing other Girl Scouts around the world and I mentioned that some countries divide their scouting groups by religion. Then I mentioned that in the US, it doesn't matter what your religion is, what color your skin is, how much money you have, or whether or not you have a disability - all are welcome in the Girl Scouts of America.

Spontaneously, all the girls started comparing themselves and their differences in skin color (I have black, white, middle-eastern, and mixed-race girls in my troop), hair color, a few wear glasses, one little girl wears a hearing aid... etc.

Then the new little girl, Amna Nazir, quietly said, "I'm Muslim."

To which 8 other little voices replied, "COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!"

Amna broke into a huge grin.

There was no judgment, only curiosity and total acceptance.

I looked at the other table and saw Amna's mother and older brother smiling big smiles, too.

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Got this forwarded to me in email today, which I usually hate, but I thought this was worth passing on to the masses.

BTW, the forwarded email is from a co-worker who is from Ethiopia... and is Muslim.

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You probably missed it in the rush of 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 an Australian dentist wrote an editorial to the newspaper the following day to let everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found one.

"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 Afghanistani.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Iroqouis, Blackfoot, Sioux, Navaho, Apache, Nez Pierce, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as Native Americans.

An American is Christian, or Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan and more Jews in America than in Isreal. 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 at all. 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. Americans 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, 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 and the Pentagon on 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."

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Happy Friday, ya'll.