This Old Letter From Joe Biden to His Staff Is Going Viral For All the Right Reasons

As Inauguration Day approaches, many are reflecting on the highlights of Barack Obama and Joe Biden's legacy. While the sitting vice president has become a sort of internet hero as of late, he's also one classy man — as evidenced by an old letter he wrote to his staff that's going viral all over again.

In 2014, Biden wrote a note encouraging his staff to prioritize important family holidays and personal obligations. "I do not expect nor do I want any of you to miss or sacrifice important family obligations for work," he wrote. "This is very important to me. In fact, I will go so far as to say that if I find you are working with me while missing important family obligations, it will disappoint me greatly."

The letter was eventually released to the public when Esquire published it in the Summer of 2016. Gavin Newsom, lieutenant governor of California, then shared it with his Facebook followers in August, and it took off from there. Now, the letter is going viral yet again after an Imgur user shared it on Jan. 8, where it received over 400,000 views.

Shortly after the letter was published in Esquire, Biden spoke about it with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. Sadly, Biden said he was motivated to enact this policy for his employees after his first wife, Neilia, and 1-year-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident at the start of his political career. "There's no such thing as quality time. Every important thing your child will say to you will be off script, as they say, will be at a time when you don't expect it. Kids can hold an idea for maybe 12 or 14 hours but after that it's gone, man. You lose it," he said, "I don't want anybody on my staff feeling an obligation to do something for me when there's something that matters in their family."

Watch the entire interview below.