That isn’t an ethical question.
Lack of planning by others doesn’t necessarily equate to an obligation to abandon your own responsibilities of taking care of your own family or self so that the ignorant, unadaptable, or irresponsible can survive. There’s wisdom in allocating one’s resources.
When the alcoholic neighbor gets an evict notice because he drank the rent; or the friend that pays $200/month for satellite tv and internet, has two car payments, and avoids work yet needs gas money, food money, a car battery, heating fuel, chicken feed or a combo every single month and can never pay you back…
I’m not saying don’t be compassionate or philanthropic or help when led to, but if help isn’t going to change anything down the road there’s wisdom to attend to before you give away the golden goose. In 2021 and 2022 I made a ton of money (some weeks doing 80 hours) and I was surprised and got annoyed how many people expected me to pay for stuff ‘friends and family’ until eventually, uncomfortably, I started saying, “no.”
It’s funny how they’ve stopped calling.
I built my solar over time with cash money I earned and because of it I don’t have an electric bill, and it enabled me to live in such a way I’ve saved ~$10-$12k a year in living expenses by making hard choices over the last five years. Others are free to make sacrifices to better themselves, too.
Long story short: I have solar that works when the power goes out, and now I’ve upgraded a bit and probably have enough solar to never need supplementary alectricity. I do have a generator now just in case, but I shouldn’t need it based on the last two winters of wattmeter records.
If I have power and my neighbor doesn’t that’s how it is. Some of my neighbors have tractors and $90k pickups, several $25k side-by-sides, $65k RV campers... Good for them. They don’t owe me anything. If I want their stuff I can work to obtain it myself.
Neither do I owe them what they could obtain for themselves.
“Lend freely asking nothing in return” is something I try to live by, but I believe wisdom would have the rescue swimmer take great pains to not drown with the swimmer in trouble whom they’re trying to rescue. Even God gives freedom of choices to mankind. Not everyone chooses wisely.
I’m grateful to be independent, interdependent, and free. And I’m thankful my fridge, lights, coffeemaker and heat successfully run independent of the grid.