The renowned humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, who accomplished so much for humans and animals in his lifetime, would take time to stoop and move a worm from hot pavement to cool earth. Aware of the problems and responsibilities an expanded ethic brings with it, he said we each must “live daily from judgment to judgment, deciding each case as it arises, as wisely and mercifully as we can.” We can’t stop all suffering, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop any. In today’s world of virtually unlimited choices, there are usually “kinder, gentler” ways for most of us to feed, clothe, entertain, and educate ourselves than by killing animals.
