Happy Thanksgiving Bermuda! Bermuda doesn't really celebrate Thanksgiving the way our American and Canadian cousins do but I see and note that more and more people here are acknowledging the holidays.This concept of giving thanks led me to consider that this is the perfect time to give thanks to God for so very many blessings. Even though there is much to complain about in our land we have far more for which we should pause and give thanks. More on this after the top 20.Holding at #1 is She Will by Lil Wayne featuring Drake. This track bangs, with its deliberate beat and catchy lyrics. Making a monster gain to #2 is a former essential new tune and one of DJLT's faves, Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera. Tumbling to #3 is Party by Beyonce featuring Andre 3000. Falling to #4 is Put Your Hands Up (If You …) by Kylie Minogue.Now another killer dance track. Way Up to #5 is another former essential new tune, Mr Saxobeat by Alexandra Stan. Slipping to #6 is Rolling In The Deep by Adele. Down to #7 is Chris Brown's hit entitled She Ain't You.Up to #8 is Sexy And I Know It by LMFAO. These guys truly know how to rock a party. Slipping to #9 is I'm Into You by Jennifer Lopez featuring L'il Wayne. Sliding to #10 is Fly Away by Mavado. Shifting gears to dance music, down to #11 is Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock. Tumbling to #12 is another hit by Mavado entitled Pepper. Motivation, by Kelly Rowland featuring L'il Wayne, tumbles to #13 this week.Fighting up to #14 is Love On Top by Beyonce. This is the track that everyone in the industry is talking about at the moment. People are raving about her vocal performance in particular, but the song is just awesome.Falling into the #15 slot is Give Me Everything by Pitbull, Neo, AfroJack and Nayer. Slipping to #16 is Enrique Iglesias' current hit, Tonight I'm Loving You.Improving to #17 is We Found Love by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris. This track is a stroke of genius by Rihanna's production team. Up to #18 is Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People. On the way up at #19 is Countdown by Beyonce. Tumbling to #20 is I Wanna Go from Britney Spears.Now back to this week's topic, Thanksgiving, or giving thanks. Nobody can deny that there are many things going on in Bermuda that are not exactly the way us right-thinking people would like for them to be. To some it may look like our Island is spinning out of control. Some persons may look to blame someone for the way things appear to be headed and the way things are at the moment.Well, to some this may sound like a cop-out, but at the root of most of our problems is sin and the fact that we have strayed from our Christian, spiritual, moral, legal, ethical compass and focus. Well, it is true, like it or not.In communities where the majority of the citizens really practise some form of organised religion, there is less crime, anarchy, antisocial behaviour, poverty, inequality, unfairness, social unrest, etc.I also often fall back to education when I look at our problems. One will also find that the higher the level of education of a person and a people, the less likely that person or those people are to engage in crime and antisocial behaviour. Of course there will always be exceptions to every rule but we are talking about the majority of cases.So I conclude that we need to focus our energy and attention on raising the standard of education and professional development of our people as well as causing our citizens to return to practising some sort of organised religion as quick fixes to our problems.However, in spite of the challenges we face, there is much for which we should be thankful. We have an economy that is struggling but not yet completely dead or flat. A few better or different decisions here or there by Government and captains of industry can bolster our economy and help to turn this economic downturn into an economic upturn.Although it appears that we have a higher rate of unemployment than ever before, there are still some jobs available, as opposed to no jobs. A challenge is getting our people to accept different jobs or jobs that pay a little or, in some cases, a lot less than what they were used to making.We should give thanks for the fact that we have not yet reached the stage where the working class has resorted to a full fledged revolution. This would be a total disaster and we still have time to fix our society before things get that bad, although we should be warned that if things continue as they are going for a lot longer, we will in all likelihood have a revolution that would not be pretty. So we give thanks that we still have time to correct the situation.In many countries around the world people are punished for something as simple as practising their preferred type of religion. We don't have religious persecution in Bermuda; we are free to do as we like for the most part be religious, Muslim, Christian, atheist, whatever with no fear of punishment simply for the religion or lack of religion that we practise. We take this right for granted but we should pause to give thanks for it.We have to give thanks that we have a system where the people elect the Government, for the most part. We ARE in what many of us call the SILLY SEASON but at least we have a right to vote when that time comes to make our choice for who we wish to lead us and make decisions for the Country on our behalf. Many years ago this right was not available to everybody but thank God it is today.Bermuda must give thanks that it is not at war with any other country. War is nasty business and nobody wins with war. Everybody loses something. Even our so-called advanced modern society, many countries are still at war with other nations. Every day I pray for world peace but today we should pause to give thanks that Bermuda, for its vulnerable position all alone in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is not the subject, location or focal point of a war.We give thanks for the fact that in spite of all our problems, we are basically sensible people who have the ability to make the right decisions to better ourselves both individually and collectively.So we pause today to give thanks to God for the many blessings that he has bestowed upon us.We give thanks that we have a God to whom we can pray to give us comfort, peace, reassurance and hope. We give thanks that have hope that things can get better and that there is not total despair in the land.We remember those who are less fortunate than ourselves at this time and pray that they too realise that even in their misfortune there is still reason to give thanks and hope for a better tomorrow. As long as we have life there is hope.For all these things, we give thanks. Peace … … DJLT