Yet this anonymous commentator protested against courage, loyalty, and tolerance as claiming the first place in a man's life, and suggested kindness in their place, although the same objection could be made to kindness that he made to the other three. A gangster can be kind. I think I should put kindness first too, but I might like to change the word. I have in mind. It means much more than that.
Compassion is a better word.
Even though it is made up of two words that come to us from another language. Nevertheless, it seems to me to come a little closer to what the writer had in mind and suggest some of the passion that is implied, a feeling with and for other people, a capacity to suffer with and for other people. Care can mean anxiety, and as such, of course, all sane men and women shun it and try to root it out of their lives. But care on its other side, turned around the other way, can mean that deep concern of one person for another person, that amazing composite of a cultivated imagination and an insatiable desire to be part of life and to be of use. It means that capacity in human beings to get outside of themselves and to care about people who do not deserve to be cared about, and to care not only about people but about life because they think it is good, because they can affirm it, because in spite of all its inconsistencies and contradictions, in spite of all the shadows that darken their path, nevertheless they can approach life affirmatively and positively as they care about it and yield themselves to it.