Dependability is, by nature, often an overlooked quality. After all, if something or someone is dependable, there isn’t a need to worry or anticipate problems with that person or object. People generally walk into their office wondering about the day’s duties, not about the stability of their chair or the likelihood that the electricity will work. Similarly, many of us take for granted that the trash will be gone when we come to work in the mornings and don’t think about the janitors who remove it after we leave. They are dependable, which means that unless their duties go unfulfilled we rarely think about what our life would be like without them.

It’s a commonly repeated saying that “we never know what we have until it’s gone.” The same can be said about dependable people in our lives. We risk taking for granted the people, objects, and institutions that support us and enable us to live our lives freely because we rarely pause to think about the components that go into making our world flow smoothly.

It is important, then, to consciously recognize and appreciate those who dependably make our lives a little easier.