Lou Gehrig was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Nicknamed the "Iron Horse", he was well-known for his reliability and durability on the field, and held the record for most consecutive games played for over 50 years. His reason for stepping off was heart wrenching: an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis, which had no known treatment and inevitably led to his death two years later. Two years before his passing, he gave the following speech, known as "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth":
"For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
“When you look around, wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such a fine looking men as they’re standing in uniform in this ballpark today? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.
"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.
"So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you."
As you'll notice, Gehrig doesn't mention much of himself at all; he starts the speech off calling his diagnosis a "bad break", a heavy understatement of his condition. He then proceeds to thank those around him, repeating the phrase "Sure, I'm Lucky", and employing climax to thank his teammates, coaches, and family. He even employs hyperbole, claiming that he has received nothing but "kindness and encouragement" from fans. The tone of the entire dialogue is nothing but pure gratitude, in his last years.
I think there's a lot to take away from Gehrig's speech: the complete lack of self-entitlement, his gratitude for each and every little detail, and the understating of his struggles. His speech is a reminder to not be overly petty, or complain and whine. Focus on the gifts and blessings in our lives!