OPENING, CLOSING, AND FLAG CEREMONIES/04-11

FLAG CEREMONY “AN AMERICAN”

(The following was written by a dentist in Australia)
"You probably missed it in the rush of news last week,
but there was a report that someone in Pakistan offered a
reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.
So I just thought I would write to let them know what an
American is, so they will know when they have found one.
An American is English, or Italian, Irish, Spanish, Polish,
Russian or Greek. He may also be Mexican, African, Indian,
Chinese, Japanese, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Pakistani, or
Afghan. An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage,
Blackfoot, Navaho, or Apache.
An American may be Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, or
Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in
Iraq. The only difference is, in America each is free to
worship as they choose.
An American is generous. Americans have helped out
almost every other nation in the world. When Germans in
World War II overran France, many Americans died to
reinstate a free government. As of the morning of
September 11, Americans had given more than any other
nation to the poor in Afghanistan, Africa, or Europe.
Americans welcome the best, but they also welcome the
least. The national symbol of America welcomes your tired,
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 on the morning of September 11, earning a better
life for their families
You can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did.
So did General Tojo, Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, Osama,
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.
So look around you. You may find more Americans in your
land than you thought were there. One day they will rise up
and overthrow the old, ignorant, tired tyrants that trouble too
many lands. Then those lands, too, will join the community
of free and prosperous nations.
And America will welcome them!

“MAP OF THE
WORLD”
CUBMASTER MINUTE

A Wolf Cub Scout was at a
hobby show with his Father
and Grandfather and their
coin collections. The Wolf
became restless after a
while. Wanting to keep him
occupied for a little while
longer, the father opened a
magazine he had with him.
He removed a picture of a
map of the world tore it
into small pieces, and told
him, "Go over there on that
table and see if you can put
this puzzle together.”
After a few minutes the
Cub returned and handed
him the map correctly put
together. The father and
Grandfather was surprised
and asked how he had
finished so quickly. "Oh,"
he said, "on the other side
of the paper is a picture of a
family. When I got the
family put together, then
the world came together by
itself."