The Greater Good & feeling good

By avoiding animal products, by becoming vegan, we undoubtedly come to feel good, good about our decision, good about how our stomach feels, and good that we’re somehow lighter, less dense and mentally sharper.
This question of good. What is it? And especially what is the greater good? We do things which make us feel good on many levels. But the overall feeling of feeling good is generated mainly from having altruistic intentions. Knowing that we’re not in it for ourselves only.
We get a lot of good feelings by being actively involved in non-violence, which includes seeing the best in others rather than looking around for their bad points. We get it by not wanting to be in judgement of them (when we really like someone, all their virtues are great and all their bad points insignificant). If we want to sow seeds that will flower later, that’s a positive, that’s working for the greater good … and it’s likely the results of our work will not necessarily be seen in our own lifetime. Animals rights, for example, might not come about until many of us are dead, but if we want to lay the foundation stones today, it is not only essential that we do it right now, but right now it will make us ‘feel-good’.
If we don’t care about what’s ahead ‘after we’re gone’, (“I won’t be around to see it”), we’ll have neither an interest in long term planning nor any interest in the concept of altruism. It will be meaningless. However we might still want to have a good self-image and for that we need to seem good. But just seeming good doesn’t guarantee we’re going to be liked, especially if we go around displaying our ‘goodness’. No one likes boasting whereas everyone likes ‘genuine’. The depth of our commitment (to being good) is tested when we aren’t being recognised for what we do and when we’re acting anonymously. For some, that would be enough to turn them off being good altogether.
Vegans experience this sort of ‘come-down’. They may boast and then suffer for it; they may wrestle with altruism and fear they’ll never be rewarded for it. ‘They’, I mean ‘we’, we all go down that path, surely? And it’s a big lesson we all have to learn.
When taking the high moral ground, we have to keep ourselves out of the picture. Otherwise everyone’ll think we’re up our self.