Mitch Albom inspires ‘For One More Day’

Mitch Albom leaves his readers lingering on one simple, yet emotionally and mentally stirring question throughout the entirety of No. 1 New York Times Bestseller, “For One More Day” — what if you got it back?

The main character, Charles “Chick” Benetto, delves deep into the high and low points of his irreconcilable life while pondering this powerful question.

Growing up a self-proclaimed daddy’s boy, Benetto dedicated his life to his father’s pride and joy, baseball, in search of a sense of acceptance from his hard-hearted father. Benetto experienced both success and loss at a fairly young age, and both were rooted in baseball.

Clinging onto baseball for dear life after his parents separated was what Benetto believed to be the only way to keep his dad from becoming a distant figure in his life. Following his father’s advice, and against his mother’s wishes, Benetto drops out of college to pursue a baseball career, eventually landing him an offer to play for a major league baseball team in the World Series.

Benetto catches himself wedging a barrier between him and his family with every lie and sacrifice to keep the once barely burning father-son bond alive. Benetto comes to the realization that the priorities he once wrote on the top of his life list drove him away from all that really mattered, but he realizes this too late.

Drowning in self-sorrow and guilt for suppressing those who truly loved him in order to chase a love that would never be, Benetto goes on a final journey to end his life. Rather than finding death, he stumbles upon a heaven-sent second chance to right his wrongs and obtain internal peace.

Highlighting the life story of a man with a dying wish, Albom outdid himself by drawing up a character in such an earthly way that with ample soul searching and self-reflection, a bit of Benetto can be found in every reader. “For One More Day” was packed to the brim with life lessons on family, forgiveness and hope.

Upon reading the final page of the book, it leaves you wanting to hug your mom and live your life as if you may never get this very moment back, because in all reality, you never will.

Hope can be found around the corner of every page of this novel as readers learn through Benetto that all that is deemed broken must not stay that way forever, as it can indeed be fixed.

What would you do differently if you received a second chance to go back in the past and right your wrongs? Albom gives each reader that chance with “For One More Day.”