Thankful for big and little freedoms

  • Julie Muhlstein / Herald Columnist
  • Wednesday, November 21, 2001 9:00pm
  • Local News

Yolanda Pelzer, a U.S. Navy musician first class, sauntered across the stage in a chic dress uniform. She stopped, pivoted in black high heels, then belted out in a strong, bluesy voice the torch standard "Cry Me a River."

She was great.

To say the vocalist for the U.S. Navy Band’s Commodores Jazz Ensemble wowed a full house at Everett Civic Auditorium is an understatement. I don’t know jazz, but I know greatness.

Talented and beautiful, Pelzer is a powerhouse match for formidable accompanists, 18 members of the Commodores. A specialty unit of the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C., the jazz and big-band group put on a free show Monday night that brought the local crowd to its feet as Pelzer sang "America the Beautiful."

Jazz riffs afford plenty of time for the mind to wander.

Listening to Pelzer, my mind wandered to a terrible report on the U.S. State Department Web site, at www.state.gov. You shouldn’t have to read about the Taliban on Thanksgiving, but this won’t take long. The report, by the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, is titled "The Taliban’s War Against Women."

Since taking control in 1996, the Afghan regime has kept women imprisoned in their homes. It has had women flogged, stoned and shot for being on the street unaccompanied by a male relative. Since 1998, girls over age 8 have been banned from Afghan schools.

According to the report, Taliban rules endanger lives, as doctors may only examine female patients while they are fully clothed. "About 16 out of every 100 women die giving birth," the report says.

So I read this thing, and then I saw Pelzer, who hails from Columbia, S.C.

The contrast was all it took to remind me of how much we have in our country. Stacked up next to a Taliban existence, our opportunities and freedoms are dizzying.

I spent some time in the rain outside a Fred Meyer store in Marysville on Tuesday to find out what other people are grateful for this Thanksgiving.

"I’m thankful for, of course, freedom, and the ability to have all this to celebrate," said Ron Anderson, 32, of Marysville.

A veteran, Anderson also appreciates government programs that allow him to attend Everett Community College. He’s studying psychology and sociology, and hopes to get into law enforcement.

Jennifer Keller, a young Marysville mother, is thankful for "my kids, definitely, and that we’re all healthy."

"I’m thankful we’re safe," said 77-year-old Helen Madison of Camano Island.

"I’m thankful to be out here visiting," said Jim Zabel of South Carolina, who is here to spend Thanksgiving with two sisters.

Seventy-two-year-old Charlie Brown (yes, his real name) of Marysville is thankful "to be alive."

Charles Weible, 46, broke an ankle and has been out of work. "I’m thankful for my Thanksgiving basket from the food bank. I’m very thankful for that," the Marysville man said.

Ken and Doris Pylman, visiting from Clarksburg, Calif., near Sacramento, are thankful "to be here with our daughter," Julie Pylman of Marysville.

Ralph Thompson, 78, has survived cancer and quadruple-bypass heart surgery. "This was the best year of my life," the Marysville man said. "Do I have a lot to be thankful for?" He answered himself with a loud, "Yes!"

"I guess I’m most thankful my father-in-law is still with us," said Carolyn Strong of Marysville. Raymond Grey, who will turn 89 on Christmas, has suffered several strokes. "I’m very thankful for family," Strong added. "I’m also thankful I don’t live in New York or Washington, D.C."

Carolyn Evers, a Marysville mother of three, has much to be thankful for, particularly that "my husband got a layoff notice and a new job from the same company on the same day." Monday, she said, was his first day on the new job at a construction firm.

These are uneasy times. This land has seen uneasy times before.

A day of thanksgiving was first proclaimed in the New World in 1621. But it wasn’t until 1863, during the dark days of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln appointed a national day of thanksgiving.

A friend of mine likes to say if you live in the United States, you’ve already won the lottery. It’s one of those schmaltzy things we can tell our kids when they act too spoiled. It’s true, though.

When we remember the Afghan women, we should celebrate Yolanda Pelzer.

Celebrate and be thankful.

Contact Julie Muhlstein via e-mail at muhlsteinjulie@ >

heraldnet.com, write to her at The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206, or call 425-339-3460.

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