Greetings.

The message below - "To Kill an American" - has been circulating around the Internet. I don't know if the report it refers to is true but I don't think it matters.  It makes points that are worth reflecting on.

Since our organization is named Spirit of America, I often reflect on what the spirit of America is.  For me, the spirit of America is about freedom, opportunity and generosity.  It's the belief that things can be better than they are - a better mousetrap, a better government, a better world, a better way to grill a hot dog. And it's the personal initiative to try to make things better.

While America and Americans certainly don't own those ideals, we are a pretty good example of them.

Our job here at Spirit of America is to reflect and help perpetuate those ideals. Put more simply: we do our work so that freedom prevails.  Our projects in Iraq and Afghanistan are our way of supporting those struggling for freedom and our way of fighting back against those who want freedom to fail.

I'm writing this from Jordan so I'm more appreciative of the USA than usual (though Jordan is a very nice country).

Thank you for your support.

All the best,
Jim Hake and the Spirit of America team
http://www.spiritofamerica.net

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To Kill an American
 
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 the following to let everyone know what an American is... so they would know when they found one. (Good on ya, 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 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.
 
When the Soviet army overran Afghanistan 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, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best athletes. 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 the morning of September 11, 2001, earning a better life for their families. I've been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 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 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.
 
Author unknown
 
Pass this around the World