Well, Buddha didn't really become enlightened upon seeing suffering. When Sidartha Goutama ventured out of his castle he saw the representations of death, sickness an d old age. He was blown away. So he left his family and denounced his throne and went looking for answers. He tried many paths. He tried the popular religions of the day, but no answers. It wasn't until he had been fasting with a different teacher for many days that he began to open up. He heard the boat master call out " you you pull the line to taught the net will not close, if you pull the line to loose the fish will escape. You must use the middle way" This opened his mind.
The state of nirvana is beyond enlightenment. Beyond life and death. It is a state of non rebirth. Like what was stated truthfully by Necropolis, we already have everything we need. we are all already enlightened. we just don't have realization of said enlightenment. We are stuck in conceptual ideas. its not that enlightenment is not useful, look at it as more to the idea that enlightenment should not be a goal because it is empty.
Don't aim for anything. A finger pointing at the moon is NOT the moon. Don't get caught up in the path. The path is just that, a way and there are infinate ways.
When asking anything about Buddhism your first and only question should be "who is asking" learn this and everything else will fall into line.
So, stop seeking things, gain great understanding, become enlightened and save all sentiant beings.