"Where does helping one's neighbors stop and protecting yourself start and end?"

I would think that depends on the particular situation. In the unlikely event that you have virtually unlimited quantities of something, you would probably want to share.

If you have a reasonably good supply of something, and take a good hard look at the situation and think it is short-term, again you may be inclined to share, at least with family, friends, neighbors.

But if you have 3 or 4 wks worth of supplies, and you're facing conditions that could last a while, would you want to put your family in jeopardy to help out people who didn't prepare because they thought their goverment would take care of them, or knew you would?

People make all kinds of stupid decisions. You aren't responsible for the decisions they make, and you aren't responsible for helping them to survive or live in comfort. Many/most Americans don't plan ahead, they don't take evacuation advice (or they don't take it in time), they wouldn't think of storing some food and water and blankets and a couple of 5-gal cans of gas. Then, when things go bad, they resort to whining and complaining that they aren't being taken care of.

Some people think of it as Mother Nature cleaning out the shallow end of the gene pool. Some people call it "survival of the fittest". If you can't make an effort to take care of yourself, why should someone else?

Sue