From where come your morals?

[henryp]

I'm very sorry to hear that Yeah, probably you are right. Obviously people can and do find all sorts of reasons to hurt living beings. It's just that it feels so alien to me to even consider such a notion that it feels like people who are capable of it are a different sub species to me.

I feel like you have a fun riddle.  What's the line, and why?  Do you worry about cold medicine killing bacteria for example?  Do you worry about stepping on grass?  Have you ever puzzled through your feelings on the matter, to find out what circumstances need to be in place for the brain to fire up the compassion function?  

You don't like stepping on bugs.  Do you care if other people step on bugs  What about really tiny ants.  Our front sidewalk is covered with them.  Can't even see them unless you get down on the ground, and look real hard.  Do you worry about those bugs, or only about bugs you can see?  

I assume you don't walk around terrified you are stepping on really small bugs, so it's not killing things, it's the knowledge that you are killing things?  Do you feel terrible in hindsight that you have probably been squishing a bunch of bugs by mistake, without even thinking about it?  What are the implications of you not caring?

You won't squish a bug, because you don't want to hurt a living thing.  But you've been squishing bugs unintentionally for awhile, most likely.  If you don't feel a great sense of remorse over your tiny ant murder, then can it really be about not wanting to hurt a living thing?  

To which, I'd guess you'd say, I don't want to hurt a living thing on purpose.  But you don't mind slaughtering them not on purpose, and you probably aren't going to walk down the street with a magnifying glass to make sure it doesn't happen again.  So it's not really about the living thing, it's got something to do with you.  But what??!?!?  I don't know!  I will go lie in bed, and fall asleep pondering the great mysteries of Rob murdering extra tiny bugs.