[4death4]

> Some people can more or only feel sorry for small children or animals, because they are obviously innocent, while a grown up could have done something to deserve it.

Now that I've had a kid, I understand what it means when people say kinds are innocent. Children are innocent in the way animals are innocent; they don't possess the mental faculties to understand morality. That doesn't means kids are good. They can be cruel, mean, and annoying, and to a very high degree. But, just like we don't consider it a moral failure of a dog when it jumps up and steals a piece of bacon from the table, so too do we not consider the things children do moral failures.

This differs from an adult. Adults understand morality, and thus can never be innocent in the same way, even if they act with the upmost character.