Avraham is the paragon of compassion. When he smashed his father's idols, I believe he did so not out of anger, but out of love. Avraham loved his father so much that he wanted to show him the folly of idolatry and give him the truth.
This is the dilemma of the ba'al teshuva -- he has found Hashem and wishes to share this knowledge with others -- even to go so far as to smash their idols, whatever those may be. The ultimate compassion comes through emes (truth). Emes is the ability to see an opportunity to do something, and then to do or not do it. "Lech lecha," G-d told Avraham. "You cannot bring your father with you right now. He must come to Me in his own time. Get up and go away from him." Avraham followed G-d's emes and left.
How does this relate to us? In order to have compassion on others and on ourselves, we must know when to go and when to stay and act. G-d does the same with us; sometimes He leaves us to work it out, and sometimes He stays and does what needs to be done. In order to be compassionate, we must know when to go from a person or a situation and when to stay with them and act. Avraham knew when it was right to act, and when it was time for him to go, he left. We find in Rashi that Terach, Avraham's father, eventually does teshuva and returns to Hashem. I hope this Shabbat everybody (including me) takes time out to be compassionate on themselves and on others, and enjoys G-d's rachmanus (compassion) which is ours on Shabbat.