Who is to be blamed?

Today I was travelling in bus along with a friend to meet a few other friends. The bus reached SilkBoard when we heard a lady crying aloud from the road. It took us some time to locate the lady and the reason for her being in that mood. She was walking along the road talking on her cell phone when a guy snatched her cell phone and ran off.

The lady was dark, little fat and wearing a saree. She looked poor, probably the cell phone would have cost her a few months of her savings atleast. The guy who snatched her cell phone looked lean, dressed in pants and shirts (did not look poor). He crossed the road, jumped across the footpath barrier and vanished into another lane. I sat in bus looking at the events that unfolded cursing the guy.

But why did I not react? Why did I not run behind the guy and get back the cell phone for the woman. Everyone in the bus did the same, just saw everything with great anxiety. One person on the road ran behind the guy for a while, but he was little old for the chase and hence gave up after a few metres. Had she been a beautiful young lady, there would have been lot of people to help her out. But she belonged to the other category.

I felt bad that I did not help the lady. We don't react or think about reacting unless such bad things happen to our own life. I finished my journey thinking we all have grown so selfish and cowardly. After sometime we reached our friend's house and got busy chatting and playing. Life goes on...