This weekend my four-year-old casually squished a bug.

She looked up to see the horror on my face.

"Don't worry dad, there will be other bugs!"

"I'm not worried about whether I'll see more bugs. I'm sad for that specific bug that no longer exists, whose inner light has been snuffed out forever."

Viewing the world entirely from your own direct perspective is childish thinking.

Mature thinking requires the ability to take on others' perspective (even ones unlike yourself), to view them as ends, not just means. To take responsibility for even the indirect effects of your actions.