When someone you care about is hurting, the natural instinct is to give him or her a hug. The other natural instinct is to find some way to bludgeon the hell out of the source of his or her pain.

Problem: Hugging requires two arms, which one generally needs for bludgeoning.
Solution: Unleash a pack of angry dwarves -- or perhaps meth-crazed monkeys -- on the source of pain.

Problem: Sometimes the source of pain is intangible or so complicated or diffuse that bludgeoning won't help.
Solution: I wish I knew.