Discouraging news has been inample supply lately. Around the globe, nations are being brought to their kneesby deteriorating economic conditions. Here in America, many thousands ofdedicated, loyal employees are losing their jobs. Millions more are beingforced to delay or forego retirement plans. At the same time, government isspending hundreds of billions of dollars on corporate bailout plans with noguarantee of success. Given these and other developments, it would be easy tobecome alarmed–and perhaps discouraged. Fortunately, Thanksgiving has picked aperfect time to arrive. All across our nation, families and friends will gatherthis Thursday. They will continue a centuries-old tradition shared by the richand poor alike: offering a collective thank you for our many blessings. There’sno denying that these are challenging times. But let’s remember that we stillhave much to be grateful for.