darctwin
He tipped his cap to the sad-looking young lady with the bags by her side and then kept walking. As he walked, he thought. ~I wonder what her story might be?~ But he didn't go back, he just kept going. The next person he tipped his cap to was an older woman with her hild. They were both carrying groceries home from the market. ~They look like they could use some help,~ he thought, but he didn't stop, he simply kept walking. As he drew closer to his destination, he tipped his cap to the old man sitting on the park bench with a bottle in a paper bag. ~He looks like he could use a warm bed to sleep in.~ But the man just kept walking.
Why does he think of these things? Ways to help someone, but he doesn't? It's because he thinks that someone else will take pity on them, that he just needs to think of them and they'll become someone else's problem. The sad part is that he was wrong. If he had stopped to offer that young lady help, he would have learned that her fiance had cheated on her and left for another woman. If he had offered to help the older woman and her child with their groceries, he may have learned that her husband had died in the war and they were relying on government help to get by. If he had offered the old man some money for a motel, he could have learned that his wife had been dead for seven years now, and all the old man wanted was to join her. But he didn't. He just kept walking, tipping his hat to people in need.