I don't know why, but this conversation is reminding me of a story I had heard as a kid:

Once upon a time, there was a small fire in the area around Dharara and the shop keepers from around Dharara went shouting, "There is a fire, there is a fire! Our livelihoods are about to get burned. Please help us." The people from New Road came and brought water but could not put it out. They needed more water, but the shop keepers from Assan smiled wisely and said, "that is not our problem," and would not give any water.

The fire blazed higher and spread all over New Road. Now bricks and buildings were up in a blaze. People jumped out of windows, trying to save their babies and their goods. The people from New Road said, "There is a fire, there is a fire! Our livelihoods are about to get burned. Please help us." They needed more water, but the shop keepers from Assan grinned coolly and said, "That is not our problem,"
But the fire didn't stop. It spread and spread. Now Assan toll with all of its shops, art and architecture and family heritage that had been there for centuries started turning black with smoke with fire leaping atop of buildings. You could smell the burn all over Tundikhel. Priests from Swayambhu could see the black smoke from the fire making large clouds of ash and dust in the center of Kathmandu. Finally, the shop keepers from Assan, seeing what was coming at them started crying all around "There is a fire, there is a fire! Our livelihoods are about to get burned. Please help us put out this fire."

But by now the fire was bigger than anyone could put out. So the people from Dharara, New Road and Assan just watched all their life savings, history, and wealth go up in smoke in front of them.
One guy from Dharara turned to a weeping shop keeper in Assan, and putting his hand around the guy's trembling shoulder to comfort him, said: "Don't cry, friend. It is not your fault. Since it was any one person's problem, now it has become everyone's problem."