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 Going off of your point, I wonder how we as humans can determine when we need to involve ourselves in a crisis.  Certainly when one's own city is covered in dead rats, one should probably take some course of action.  But what do we do when there are child soldiers in Uganda, or genocide in Sudan?  Or mass flooding in Pakistan or nuclear meltdowns in Japan?  Do we fly over immediately and do all we can, do we send money and resources?  I think that the problem with not taking any action at all is the ensuing mindset.  When Hurricane Katrina happened, many Americans were at a loss to explain what had happened to them.  The most common thing that I remember hearing was "how could this happen here?"  People refused to be called "refugees" because it was so ingrained in their minds as a term that could only happen to foreigners.  People adapted to horrific events by removing themselves mentally, and unfortunately evolved to their imagined circumstances rather than reality.  Therefore, when people take a passive role in disasters, they are ultimately hurting themselves.