Observation
The heart often narrows for practical reasons that feel reasonable: they chose this, they should know better, I have my own burdens, someone else will help. Indifference prefers explanations that keep mercy at a safe distance.
Compassion
רחמים
Compassion is not the denial of judgment. People remain responsible for what they do. Compassion asks something narrower and harder: that we do not let another person's suffering become invisible simply because it is inconvenient, unimpressive, or mixed with fault.
It is possible to be correct and still be cold. One may name what is wrong while taking secret pleasure in not having to feel much about the person carrying it.
Mussar Insight
In Mussar, compassion does not require sentimentality. It requires accurate vision. Another person's pain should not need to be elegant before it counts. To see suffering clearly without exploiting it, minimizing it, or turning away is already a form of refinement.
Civilization Check
Whose pain do you dismiss most quickly because recognizing it would interrupt your distance, comfort, or verdict?