October 14, 2001
Dearly beloved, Vincent,
On this lovely occasion, your 39th birthday, it occurs to me that if we were to ask among ourselves why we love you we'd have a litany of what we hope for on this planet, what we hope for among our friends. This, because you are the center of such a lovely group of people. So, here's my start.
Today's New York Times book review section has a review of a book called A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues by Andre' Comte-Sponville, a French philosopher. He counts 18: the four cardinal virtues (justice, courage, prudence and temperment), the theological one (love, including its many variants), plus politeness, fidelity, generousity, compassion, mercy, gratitude, humility, simplicity, tolerance, purity, gentleness, good faith (meaning respect for truth) and humor. (By humor, he means the capacity to not take ourselves too seriously.) I can count on experiencing these when I'm amongst you and your friends. I'm thankful for that. And, it's important to me because I'm learning about them as best I can.
Love
Carl
