In 2001 as the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan advanced through the north and took control of Mazar-e-Sharif, reports slowly made their way to the rest of the world how the common afghan people were responding. The reports underscored for me, once again, the unimaginable oppression of the Taliban government but also, it served as a vivid reminder of the tremendous liberties we enjoy. The Associated Press reported that on Monday,

"In Mazar-e-Sharif, men lined up at barber shops to have their Taliban-mandated beards shaved off. Women were discarding their all-encompassing burqas, and music (banned by the Taliban) could be heard coming from cassette players in shops".

This Thursday we will all sit down to a Thanksgiving meal. The holiday has been transformed by these last two months into a penetrating inventory of our lives. What you and I enjoy the rest of the world can only dream: life, liberty, and a chance to pursue happiness. To many in the United States these rights had become--before the events of September 11th--commonplace, and to a few they were even regarded as trite, but not any more. Those three rights (Life, Liberty, the pursuit of Happiness) are once again relevant expressions of a just and free society. Our forefathers understood the gravity in these words. I am beginning to. And to God, I am thankful for them.