I am grateful for those who dedicate their lives to making the world a better place

The named ones are a rounding error. Most of the work gets done by people you'll never hear about — a nurse on a night shift, someone maintaining a water system, a teacher who stayed late for one specific kid three years running.

And very little of it feels noble in the moment. It's tedious, underpaid, and largely unwitnessed, which is precisely why it deserves the thought.

You have almost certainly been on the receiving end of someone's decade of unglamorous effort without ever learning their name.

If one of them is still reachable — a teacher, a doctor, someone who taught you something — they would remember hearing from you.