That is exactly why I ended up adopting the concept (straight out of Atlas Shrugged) that I don't own anybody else anything except if we have made a previous agreement that I do. I don't feel I have to do charity.
So no, you don't have any ethical obligation what so ever toward somebody else. Even if eating out of your garbage could save their life you would be well within your rights to decline.
But really once you stop feeling like it is your responsibility to do something for anybody, no matter how great their need or how trivial it is for you, you feel so much better -- and you can still help somebody if you want to. You just have no obligation.
So no, you don't have any ethical obligation what so ever toward somebody else. Even if eating out of your garbage could save their life you would be well within your rights to decline.
But really once you stop feeling like it is your responsibility to do something for anybody, no matter how great their need or how trivial it is for you, you feel so much better -- and you can still help somebody if you want to. You just have no obligation.