You probably missed it in the rush of recent news events, but there was actually a report that someone in the Near East had published in a newspaper the offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. In response, an Australian dentist wrote the following 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, or an 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 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 recognized 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 its 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, books, music, food, and athletes. But they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America, the Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and 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 80 other countries, cultures and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorist.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did Tojo, Stalin, 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 the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, anywhere, is an American.

Reprinted from The Scottish Rite Magazine of Freemasonry In Wyoming, Spring 2003