This is a letter of Thanksgiving gratitude, which my wife, Dolores, and I have celebrated with these enlightened words of the Buddha:

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."

We are blessed with so many of life's good things in Pinehurst. So, as an old Reuters diplomatic editor and a former Times of London correspondent, I wish to thank The Pilot's Publisher David Woronoff, Editor Steve Bouser and Managing Editor David Sinclair for giving our community a unique newspaper.

I have told so many journalist and diplomat friends in Europe that The Pilot has the best factual and objective reporters in our country. Your newspaper also has a brilliantly edited features section, and Jim Dodson's graceful essays with elegant prose add to The Pilot's greatness.

It is heartening to see The Pilot follow a fundamental dictum of C.P. Scott, the great editor of England's "Manchester Guardian." Scott said, "Facts are sacred, comment is free."

Bouser, like Scott, tells his reporters to write their news stories but leave comments to the editorial pages so that the reader first gets the hard news and later turns to the op-ed pages knowing these are full of personal, subjective comments and interpretations.

Bouser concluded his Thanksgiving column of Nov. 26 by generously expressing his gratitude to the newspaper's readers for their "patronage and loyalty."

I feel that The Pilot has ensured this loyalty by setting principled and high professional standards in the service of our decent and kind community. So we thank you.

Mohsin Ali

Pinehurst