As far as I can tell, compassion is not a virtue the Jedi emphasize at all. They are about *justice*, not mercy -- even Qui-Gon who was often a maverick in how he went about things, is quite ruthless when he wants to be -- andjustice doesn't leaven itself for individual circumstances. Mercy is the thing which allows for people's individual circumstances and mistakes.

But yes, the Jedi had a bad habit of seeing the big picture, and forgetting that a big picture is usually made up of many small pictures. Change at the small scale can often blossom into transformation on the large.