I knew long before my son made his entrance into this world that his arrival would bring, for me, not only a mother’s fierce love and lifelong commitment to him and his wellbeing, but also a whole new level of global awareness and all the anxieties, distress, and sadness that inevitably accompanies a heightened global consciousness. One that not only illuminates and acknowledges the suffering in the world, but that also results in my longing to do something about it. If for no other reason, than to leave him with the world in a better state than it was in when he arrived.

Alas, there are other reasons. Billions of them, in fact. And just as it is my responsibility to ensure my son’s well-being and his right to his life as he will choose to live it, it is also my job to help him to recognize that as important as his life and all it will encompass is, so are the lives of those with whom he will share this world.

The choice to raise our son vegan was, for my husband and me, a simple and obvious one. For we had long ago embraced the compassionate lifestyle that our veganism represents. And we continue to celebrate the blessings—such as our son’s birth—in our own lives by consciously choosing to recognize that those very same blessings occur in the lives of others. Eschewing the notion that we have the right to interfere with those lives or that causing harm to others is okay simply because they are different from us and therefore seen as lesser than.

Which sadly, were for us as for so many others, amongst the many inherited behaviors and beliefs of our youth. But for my son I want better. I want him to begin his life with the advantage of a moral perspective and just truth. Both gained from the understanding that his non-discriminatory kindness, compassion, and sense of justice will be amongst his greatest and most fierce gifts and strengths.

It will be that strength that will enable him to withstand the dismay that accompanies the knowledge of what people of all backgrounds—race, ethnicities, religions, age, gender, class, etc. —do to each other. And it will, I hope, spark within him the same fervency that his father and I feel, to ensure that he will never stand with the oppressor. For the choices he makes in his life, so long as they are aligned with the higher good, will always position him as an ally to any demographic of beings who are unjustly persecuted.

We live in a time when being gentle is a scarcity and therefore all the more sacred. Our ability to remain kind and to consider the suffering of others whether it be by our own hands or words, or by those of someone else, is crucial to both our personal and collective evolution. We must rise, but let us do so on the wings of fervent compassion and passionate empathy for all. Our lives—my son’s life—our personal and collective thoughts, words and actions will impact everyone and everything. Let us all choose wisely.

Erica Settino, MFA, E-RYT 500, is the Editor-at-Large of Creations Magazine, published writer and long-time yoga teacher and activist. Visit her website Karuna For Animals to learn more about their upcoming Karuna For Kids: Yoga & Humane Education Festival happening on Long Island this September.