"There is only one salvation for you: take yourself up, and make yourself responsible for all the sins of men. For indeed it is so, my friend, and the moment you make yourself sincerely responsible for everything and everyone, you will see at once that it is really so, that it is you who are guilty on behalf of all and for all. Whereas by shifting your own laziness and powerlessness onto others, you will end by sharing in Satan's pride and murmuring against God." -- Zosima from The Brothers Karamazov

In school, if certain people were "jerks," you had the option of not being around them. You could just as easily spend your time with more preferable and edifying company. One thing that has struck me in medical school is that you realize that if such people do exist in your class (and most certainly there are people of questionable character in every setting!), there's a possibility that so and so may end up being a physician to someone you do care about, and God forbid that anything horrible come out of that predicament. So in ignoring a jerk, it is quite possible to harm a loved one.