This seems more about the lack of common courtesy in today's world.
I am actually very courteous, or as some people would say, 'overly courteous'. I say 'please', 'thank you', and 'your welcome' a lot, I hold open doors, give away my seat, take shopping carts back for old and/or impaired people so they don't have to walk all the way back, help get stuff off of shelves for the impaired and/or wheelchair bound, let people go ahead of me at the register if they have fair less items in their basket/cart/wtv, etc. Why? Because it makes my day better and their day better. These small actions can make the world a bit brighter as a whole (Ha ha a-whole.....sorry) and perhaps rub off on a few people who otherwise wouldn't think to do these things.
I always like to think of it, like that 'Pay It Forward' movie. Or at least the idea of it. I do something nice for you and you will then be more inclined to do something nice or courteous for someone else. And then you have a bunch of people, doing nice things, for other people and making the world a little less bleak. It's a nice IDEA, but I know it probably isn't working that way. lol
As for trying to help people who are upset or going through something - think it's a cultural thing. In more 'advanced' or what people like to call 'civilized' places, people are far more into individualism - then what is best for the tribe, or community. It's not about what is good for EVERYONE and how EVERYONE should be treated, it's just about US as a person, in our own little bubbles. Perhaps that's why it seems so weird or upsetting when people try to invade your bubble, whether you were doing it out of the kindness of your heart of not.
And rambling over!