You deserve your very own Jane Austen novel. I mean this sincerely. The ability to empathise with others is so under-rated and oh so very valuable. Most of this world's ills would be removed if we could, as Atticus said, "Stand up in [their] shoes and walk around in them for a while."

You are correct. The Mary Crawfords of this world are to be pitied. I am grateful, however, that fictional characters have no feelings to be hurt. In my own defense I will say that I would never speak ill of a living person in this fashion no matter how much I am tempted. My journals, locked and kept safely hidden, are another matter. Even Fanny had to vent.