“We all arrive on Earth
with a round-trip ticket.”
Richard Paul Evans

Who is someone you are grateful for that enhances your everyday life? Now, imagine a world without this person. How would your life be different?

This is a potential situation which confronts all of us every day. Tomorrow is promised to no one. All too many people have experienced first-hand the unexpected loss of a friend, neighbor, coworker, classmate, or loved one. It happens. Despite this reality, we go through life day after day taking people for granted. 

I’ve been writing about gratitude for almost nineteen years now. Each day, I make it a point to take a moment’s pause for gratitude. Each day, I make a concerted effort to view the world around me through the lens of gratitude. Yet each day I fail to truly appreciate some of the people who make my life better.

According to the American Cancer Society’s 2025 projections, approximately 5,600 people are diagnosed with cancer each day in the United States. This includes over two million new cancer cases anticipated for the year. 

Approximately 8,450 people die in the U.S. each day, a daily average of 352 deaths per hour. (This number is based on the estimated total of deaths annually, rather than an exact figure for any particular day.) A fair number of these deaths are unforeseen. 

I should point out that death is not the only way we could lose someone who enhances our everyday life. We can lose people we know, people we care about, people we rely on in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. It happens. That’s just how life plays out sometimes. 

Living gratefully helps us to realize the tremendous value of the people with whom we interact every day. It also reminds us that these individuals, these blessings to us, are not guaranteed. It is for this reason that we need to prioritize living our lives to the fullest, and consistently appreciating the presence of those around us.

Lauren Klarfeld, a writer from Belgium, wrote, “Remember that people are only guests in your story — the same way you are only a guest in theirs — so make the chapters worth reading.”