Hello Everyone,

I did not write the following piece, entitled “How To Silence A Room”, but I wish to salute the person who did.  I am most proud to be an American citizen. 

Mark Marcus Taylor

HOW TO SILENCE A ROOM

1.
When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was  asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an  example of ’empire building’ by George Bush. He answered by saying,  “Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men  and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The  only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury  those that did not return.”

It became very quiet in the room. 

2.
Then  there was a conference in France where a number of international  engineers  were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the  French engineers came back into the room saying “Have you heard the latest  dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?” A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: “Our carriers have three hospitals  on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have  three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 6,000 people three meals a day,  they can produce several thousand! gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in  transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck… We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?”

Once again,  dead silence. 

3.
A   U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a  cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of  Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone  was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French  admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages,  Americans learn only English.’ He then asked, ‘Why is it that we always  have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?’  Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied ‘Maybe it’s because the  Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn’t have to speak German.

You could have heard a pin drop.
Always be proud to be an American.