Quote Junk and Thoughts

"  The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly."   - Henry David Thoreau

Come to think of it, why do people hurt each other? They treat orang utans, and such, as their own babies, but treat another as if they were irrelevant. I mean, what's going on? Am I missing something?