Something I have been called before that baffled me was “murderer.” A couple vegan people I know have come at me calling me that because I choose to eat meat. For a while, I thought about what they said, the facts they told me about the meat industry and how I would feel if I became vegan. They made me feel like a bad person, a murderer, for my dietary choices. But how am I the murderer if I have never actually killed an animal myself? I mean, I understand that indirectly these animals are being murdered because of people like me that do consume them.

But then I remembered vegans are murderers, too, also indirectly. You can’t argue that animals lives matter just as much as humans do when you are putting those animals in front of human lives. Every time you walk by a homeless, starving human on the street begging, you are potentially murdering them. Every time I used my college food money to feed those people hot meals, I never once saw any of the people who called me a murderer out there helping me. They aren’t even thinking about the people in need.

You do not need to give physical money to feed a homeless person. A friend and I bought as many meals, snacks and drinks we could carry from our cafeteria and just walked the streets. We offered them food. Most took it and it is heartbreaking to see a grown man hold back tears. They would be so grateful for just a burger and a soda. They talked in shaky voices because they weren’t sure when they could eat again. According to the website ThinkProgress, “An estimated 2,000 homeless people died on the streets last year, according to those who memorialized them.” And I know I don’t help nearly that many people when I feed them, but I feel it is better than nothing.

Humans and animals die every day and all it would take is the effort to make a difference. But we can’t save everyone. We are all murderers in a way, every time I eat steak or every time you pass that starving man on the street. So instead of degrading each other with words as extreme as murderer, we need to understand that we are all helping the lives of something or someone in the way we can. Instead of attacking other people for their choices, look in the mirror. If you approach it in an understanding, pleasant nature than maybe the person might rethink their actions. But it is not your life to choose how to live. We need to learn how to work together and not against each other.

Opinion tolerance is a good trait to have nowadays, especially with social media. Arguing on a post will not accomplish a damn thing. It is what you do offline that actually matters to the world. And if you can’t get yourself to tolerate others, then ignore them. So I will continue to help the homeless all that I can and you can continue eating what you think is right and hopefully, we can improve our earth working together.