Imagine a world without Hot Rod, the Princess Bride, Groundhog Day, Tommy Boy, and Elf. Imagine a world without Brian Regan, Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld, and Robin Williams. Imagine a world without Vine, and without your best friend’s hilarious faces on Snapchat. Imagine a world without a sense of humor.

Books, newspaper articles, and the Sunday funnies are amazing. What would half our childhoods be without the Percy Jackson books and the Calvin and Hobbes comics? What would American history be without the writings of Mark Twain? What would TV be without late night TV hosts like Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert?

But what I’m grateful for isn’t a funny movie, or a funny story in a newspaper. It isn’t even a comedian to listen to when you’re bored.

It’s the everyday sense of humor that makes life worth living. It’s the one joke from a friend that turns a bad day around and makes it a good day. It’s the one thing that you see that makes your entire day worth it. It’s the beautiful cosmic sense of irony that the universe has that even when you get slapped to the ground, you can laugh because it’s funny.

I’m grateful for humor because it can make anything better. It can turn a bad day into a good day, and it can turn the most boring class into a memory that you’ll remember for the rest of the school year. I’m grateful for humor because even when the universe has slapped me down to the ground, I can laugh because I absolutely deserved it. I’m grateful for humor because it can turn an ordinary situation into a memory that will last forever.

In the end, a world without humor would be a terrible place. Funny movies and books and the Sunday funnies make life better, but the real thing I’m thankful for is the everyday sense of humor that makes life worth living.