I almost never hurt insects. If they are attacking me, they die. Otherwise, I try to go out of my way to be nice to them.
Just last night, I pulled a dragonfly out of an old spider web. It took me about 39 minutes, to gently pull all the old web off of her. I rinsed her off, and put her in a safe place. She was SO exhausted from flailing, that she just sat there. I checked on her every few hours. Eventually, she flew off. Hopefully she thrives, and makes more beautiful dragonflies.
Little things like that, really make me happy. I helped something that was suffering. I suppose it can’t be called altruism, because I feel better by helping them.
I’ve always thought, that people who just kill things, are living wrong.