If you are only hard, you are cruel. If you are only soft, you are irrelevant.
The task of Goodness it to be relevant–to make a difference–but self evidently not to take pleasure from cruelty. I do strongly believe, though, that it is necessary at times to act cruelly, as in military drill instructors, and parents who want self reliant children.
If you’re sending snails out in the world without their shells, that is true cruelty. You have sentenced them to a life of pain.