Europe is often criticized for what it does or fails to do. But the most common reason is that it tries to do the right thing in a world where doing so brings no rewards. And to make matters worse, it must do so with the consensus of all its nations.

Being a moral leader is difficult. It means choosing neither the easy, familiar road, nor the one that will get you to your destination the fastest, but rather the narrow, forgotten path covered with sharp stones—the path of the right choices. Europe, despite its mistakes, is the only region in the world that acts on the basis of higher values rather than short-term gain.

Critics of Europe often compare it to the United States and China, which are doing much more to stay at the forefront of the global economy. They have tech giants. Their gross domestic product is growing rapidly. They invest in innovation. They compete for strategic natural resources. They maintain a strong military. And next to them, Europe has simply… a well-cared-for population that lives well.

In this situation, we as citizens of Europe must ask ourselves who we want to be on the global stage. Do we really prefer to be like those who violate human rights, physical and mental health, and the entire natural world, just to be a little richer and demonstrate power in the easiest way possible? Or is it better for us to be those who not only have the highest standard of living, but also achieve it by thinking about the future and preserving the dignity of the things we interact with in the process?

Let’s draw a parallel with the lives of individual people. Would you respect someone who is willing to destroy everything in their path for a little more power and money? An employer who disregards people’s personal lives, obsessed solely with productivity? An innovator who is so consumed by technology that they’ve forgotten they have a human face?

Doing the right thing is hard and requires sacrifice. Moral actions won’t bring you quick profits. You’ll often see your competitors overtake you, at least at first. You’ll also face ridicule from those who don’t share your high standards. But at the end of the road, you’ll be able to feel the pride of being true to yourself and tell yourself that you have no regrets.

As Europeans, we are spoiled because we are accustomed to the best things the rest of the world can only dream of. Here, human life is the highest value, and no one doubts that. You are a person, not a unit of labor measured solely by your economic productivity. You have personal space, and your life isn’t owned by the big corporations that hold all your data. We care about the air, the water, energy, and animal and plant species. And even when we pay more, we know that we are protecting our planet’s most precious wealth. We enjoy high-quality products that support our health and longevity.

We Europeans want to live well based on the highest values. This is not something for which we should lower our heads when the brute force of the rest of the world tries to pressure us. On the contrary, it is a reason to say that we are the true leaders of the world in the 21st century, because only we consciously and sincerely care for it.