Stardate 20031122.1125

(Captain's log): Oriol writes:

Just want to thank you for a revelation I have had since I read your "captain's log" of 22/11/03, where you talked about the differences between Europa and US, and the fact of "feeling the idea" as the only condition to be American.

I live in Catalonia (that's, Barcelona). In other words, Spain. One of the countries that have more popular opposition to the War on Terror, and more popular support to the "No-War" (nearly 80% of the population) and antiglobalization movements, in spite of the spanish government's opinions. For example, my whole family has been against the war in Iraq, and is lightly but without any doubt antiamerican and antisemitist. And EVERY(with every I mean 100%) person that I know thinks the same in a stronger or weaker way.

That's not my case. I felt 11-S as something personal, while european press talked about it as "just an american's problem". I have supported the war in Afghanistan and Iraq since the beginning of the War on Terror, and I will support any wars that should come in the future if they help to erradicate the threat to western civilization. I consider myself clearly pro-semitist and pro-American. All that, in spite of having ALL the people around me against my ideas, and in spite of having lost several friends because of that. And I know that, if necessary, I would die defending US, Israel or any of their allies.

I just don't care about the criticism I receive every day, because I know the cause I defend is right.

Now the thing is, that all this time I have felt as if I was "in the wrong place". Being the only one with one idea, while virtually all the people around me (in fact, all the europeans) is against it, makes me feel as if I was not from there. But then, if not Catalan, Spanish or European, what am I???

I haven't had the complete answer to this question until today, when I read your article. Now I do know it.

I'm American. In the wrong place, far from home, but American.

And, sincerely, that's an honour.

PS: Sorry if there are spelling or grammar mistakes in this message, my english is still far from being OK.

"I just don't care about the criticism I receive every day, because I know the cause I defend is right."

That's it. He gets it.

Honor comes from inside. An honorable man is true to himself and his own ideals, and he lives and acts according to those ideals no matter what anyone else says. It doesn't matter if that makes him respected or despised, for honor is not based on peer opinion.

And an honorable man will, if necessary, die for honor, die for what's right. There are issues worth dying for, and issues worth killing for. These things are not done lightly, but when they must be done an honorable man does not shy from his duty, even if he has to face it alone. It is more important what you stand for than who you stand with.

Honor is not and cannot be "multilateral". When you stand up for what's right, you may stand with many others, but each of those others stands there because of his honor. Each makes that decision for himself, and every one decides unilaterally.

If you compromise your honor in the name of "unity", or of "harmony" (or "alliance", or "multilateralism"), then you have lost your honor and have sold it cheaply. But if you are willing to do that, you never really had any honor to begin with.

Spelling and grammar have nothing to do with honor. A man's character has nothing to do with his education. But it shows clearly in how a man speaks to you, not in how he forms sentences, but in how he acts. "He looks you straight in the eye and tells you exactly what he thinks."

What a man says is more important than how he expresses himself. And what he does is more important than what he says. An honorable man shows his character by the things he does, and the sacrifices he's willing to make.

We are Americans because we believe in ourselves. We believe we can accomplish much, and we're damned well not going to let others prevent us from doing so, others who are rich in words but poor in actions, others who have no ideals, no honor.

We don't care about the criticism we receive every day, because we know the cause we defend is right.

Update: Brendan writes that he was recently sworn in as a newly-naturalized citizen of the US. (Welcome aboard!) He says he was given a copy of a letter which was signed by President Bush, which included the following:

Americans are united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals. The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, and that no insignificant person was ever born. Our country has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by principles that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every citizen must uphold these principles. And every new citizen, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

Americans are generous and strong and decent not because we believe in ourselves, but bec