HOW TO BE GOOD. WHAT IF WE EAT EGGS AND CHEESE?

I became vegetarian over 4 decades ago. As I’ve said many times, meat always came with a side order of guilt. Much easier to skip the guilt. I like mushrooms, red peppers, onions. Most vegetables. Also mild cheeses and eggs.

The next question: where do the eggs come from? Not cozy little chicken coops, maybe 10 hens, maybe 30. Huge egg factories, chickens in cages. Or even if the hens are loose, they are often horrifically crowded, pecking on each other, pecking the weakest ones to death.

And what about the cheese? DirectActionEverywhere just published findings on the abusive treatment of calves (from an email received July 28, 2026):

On visits in April and May, DxE drone investigators filmed workers kicking calves, including one worker repeatedly kicking a calf who was down on the ground, and more than a dozen instances of workers pulling calves by their sensitive ears and tails. The footage is now published at FactoryFarmWatch.org, our one-stop-shop for exposing California’s enormous factory farming industry.

Some people go vegan.

I am not telling anyone what to do.

I’ve chosen to do my best to get, much of the time, eggs and cheese from non-abused animals - but I realize I am very far from perfect in this.

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How do we flourish?

Lately I’ve come across another book on human evil and have posted on it:
truthsummit.substack.com/p/the-vulnerable-vs-the-human-predators

Several years ago I came across the brilliant Political Ponerology (the study of evil in politics) and posted on that a number of times, including on the core traits of the evil:
elsaiselsa.substack.com/p/the-ponerology-rabbit-hole-wow-what-findings

Several core characteristics of human predators.:
- lack of empathy,
- the drive to inflict pain,
- the drive to control.

Here I’m just concerned about regular run-of-the-mill humans, those with empathy. Yes we have empathy, AND it is limited. It needs to be limited, in fact, or we would be utterly overwhelmed.

But my experience is that the limits to empathy, in many areas, go further than needed for self-protection. When I became vegetarian, for years I did not think of the way chickens were factory-farmed, how they were treated. And even after I learned, I tended to keep the knowledge out of my mind.

How do we flourish? To flourish is to develop fully. My main thought is on taking steps, connecting with like-minded people, and seeing what further steps we can take. Right now I’m thinking about how to be good.

It’s not just about eating. What do we let slide by? What do we stand up for - without getting hooked in anger, or even in too much time? When does it say inside us, this is a hill I am willing to die on? When do we say, now I just want to have fun for a while? And how much are we open to learning about what is going on?

I taught ethics quite a bit. Good and evil. Right and wrong. Making the best of imperfect options. I loved exploring a wide range of thinking on ethics with my students. Ethics - it’s something I have thought about all my life, and also something I try to put into practice.

Posted July 30, 2026