Being compassionate and feeling sorry for others who suffer or are less fortunate ( e.g. disabled children in wheelchairs etc ) is being regarded in our society as a very positive, admirable or maybe even honorable thing.

But why is it being regarded as something so special ?

I would say that one of the main reasons for it would be that we appreciate that somebody has managed somehow to stop their crazy and express train life ( and we have to agree that today it is something not so easy to achieve ) for a moment and take time to give attention to those who suffer. And I guess that just this in itself makes others to admire those who do it.

And this is ok but...

Within this point of feeling sorry for others and giving them some attention it is necessary to investigate the reasons for it because unfortunately this act of feeling sorry and giving attention to other who are less fortunate is being greatly abused and misused to achieve personal benefits. I could give here many examples and the classic one is when the politicians use it to gain voters. And it is almost a must for a politician during their electoral campaign to make some kind of visit to the people who are sick, disabled etc. and make out of it a big TV campaign. And it is obvious that this is being done with the intention to gain something.

I could give many more examples about it but I guess that you have already got it by explaining it using the politicians as an example.

Now... feeling sorry for others who suffer and are being less fortunate is being regarded in our society as something really admirable but unfortunately the act of feeling sorry doesn't really change much and doesn't prevent more of the suffering. And this is the whole point that I don't like at all. Feeling sorry is important because that means that the person at least notices that others suffer in this world. But this is only the first step and as long as you don't make a second step then nothing will really change in this world and the suffering will continue further.