I believe the American spirit was best summed up in the movie, "Backdraft."
"You go down, we ALL go down!"
What Does It Mean to kill an
A message and warning to tyrants.
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 (if she exists), 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 person,
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 our young country. And now Bin Ladin and Saddam Hussein. But, in doing so you would just be
killing yourself. That is 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.
God Bless Americans whereever, and whoever, you are.
Dedicated to my son Chris H. serving aboard the aircraft carrier
USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Go in Peace. Seek Peace. Come Home in Peace.
And now on this date, March 24, 2003
I must re-dedicate this page.
And to all the forgotten who's names have been lost in time, like tears in a rain.
In Silence Crept on Earth's Most Tragic Day
In silence crept on Earth's most tragic day,
damned darkness, to rear its ugly face.
And hurling throbbing flames into our place,
it came from clouds where Angels dare not lay...
Forsaken, on my knees I shaking pray
that He might to this humble world dispatch
His angels golden-winged to seek and catch
this darkness that doth spoil the righteous way.
Instead, a brilliant banner none can match-
bleeding crimson, weeping white, piercing blue-
unfurled against the evening's solemn hue
doth from my heart the evil snatch.
With shrieking tears I run the darkness through.
In heaven flies Old Glory, ever true.
Aaron Tang
Yale University
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