Is HR a Thankless Job?

I've heard it so many times that I believed it. At some point I accepted that people look at HR as some kind of a malevolent entity (just like Catbert). Employees suspect HR of being too pro-management. Managers suspect HR of being too pro-employees. I have resigned to the thought that people will have a hard time seeing that as an HR person, I am pro-the-right-thing-to-do-given-a-situation. I thought people have unrealistic expectations of HR and that no matter how I try, I will never measure u