Hiding in plain sight!

When the word 'crime' is brought up, a dark abandoned alley in the dead of night comes to mind, where a person is walking and looking over their shoulder for any danger than might be lurking in the dark behind the garbage bins only to be leaped upon with no warning and have all worldly possessions taken or in many cases, your very life.

What I have to say to this is: not any more! We now live in a world where someone can be attacked in the middle of the afternoon on the busiest streets in town. Of course, this isn't news to most city dwellers - it happens all the time. However, and this is the point that I'm trying to make, people just don't care any more. People lose no sleep whatsoever when they stand in the middle of the street and watch as a violent at-knife-point mugging is unfolding before their very eyes. As immoral and unethical as this practice is, I find myself doing the same when I'm put in those situations.
Therefore, we are faced with a moral dilemma. If someone is being mugged in front of us (which in many cases turns into accidental murder as the result of a struggle) should we do anything to stop it and risk being injured or even killed ourselves for the sake of a complete stranger whom you don't know would do the same for you if the tables were turned, or should we simply watch in silence under a cloud of shame?

I was faced with this question just a few days ago when I saw across the street a beggar who held a young boy (also a beggar, judging by his appearance) at knife point demanding the few pounds that he had just managed to beg out of a woman in her Lexus. There was not a doubt in my mind as I stood there and watched this happen that I was doing anything wrong. I wasn't about to risk my life for a child who would eventually die of s horrible disease from living inside a garbage dump. Which brings me to next quesrtion: is it immoral to put the lives of the higher classes before those of the less fortunate? Is a beggars life any less precious than that of an aristocrat? I know the theoretical answer to these questions, however the reality of the matter is very different, as you might have all guessed.

Finally, it is in great sadness that I admit to you that even though this happens in plain sight of everyone who interacts with the living, there is no solution in sight because people are by nature selfish and would put their own well-being before that of their fellow man.