Variations of this discussion have gone on since we invented language. There are no pat answers.<br><br>I have some stuff stored in the basement with the intention of sharing with the neighbors should it be needed. That’s what I bought it for. On the other hand, I fully understand that, shared with a few, it may make a difference, it might even save someone. Shared with crowds, or hundreds, it will make no difference at all.<br><br>Whatever your feelings or intentions, it would be an enormous mistake to assume that others are going to leave the decision to you. There will always be those who, having made no preparation themselves, will nonetheless consider themselves entitled to whatever you have, and consider themselves fully justified in killing you and your family if you try to withhold anything from them- or perhaps just preemptively. Many of these people will firmly believe that they are acting on the highest moral principles, that they are completely justified in taking whatever you have "for the common good" (themselves, usually), and that you are horrible, evil, for trying to keep anything from them. Sometimes they are governments.<br><br>Remember that pre-Y2k, there was already negative publicity about “hoarders”, when there was plenty of everything available on the shelves for anyone to prepare who cared to. Think what that implied for the future if things had not gone well.<br><br>At the dawn of agriculture, I’m sure that there were those that felt obligated, as caring humans, to share their new bounty with those still living the nomadic lifestyle, and who felt that it was unethical and immoral to shut those fellow humans out, perhaps dooming others to starvation while they had food. <br><br>It’s worth noting that all of the early cities that survived were walled.<br>