Why are people afraid to help others?

Lately I have come to conclusion after a lot of thinking that it is easier too find people who need help than trying to locate people who are willing to help others in one way or other. Just look around you and you will see what I mean. Many people say they want to help others because of some ulterior motive like: they want other people to think highly of them or they want to look good in the eyes of other people. But dig a little deeper and you will notice that they really don't make an effort to help other people. There are probably as many different reasons for not doing social service as there are people. In today's society work comes first and there is no time for volunteer work it seems.

Some way which I believe that people can help other are:

Those who feel they don't have time to help out can always donate money instead of volunteering help. Usually, I do that as well, even though money is tight in these really tough times since I know the other party is dead broke and needs it more desperately than I do. I am helping someone else and I always hope that when this person is in a better position he/she will be able to stand on his/her own feet and make a positive contribution to the society someday.

A person could easily volunteer to serve food in one of those food kitchens that are usually set up by some social welfare group or religious group, but people shrink away from this duty by saying, "It's in a bad neighborhood, I'm not going down there."

You could donate a small percentage of your paycheck to some government recognized charity or some other charity of your own preference. Even a small amount would go a long way in helping someone out.

You could do something as simple as making extra food at dinner and giving it to a needy person or just to be plain nice.

Many people are selfish by nature and just like to hear themselves talk about helping others but are just too lazy to put in the actual work to help out. They tend to think they are needy and people should be helping them even though there are others more needier than them. They need to be taught to extend that helping hand to the needy. God does watch over us all and he does reward those who do good towards others selflessly. One should do what he/she can. One should always be willing to help others out whenever possible not because you will gain something out of it but because it might make a world of a difference to the other person(s). Needy people do need help and it is our duty to extend the helping hand. Why are people so afraid to help other people and afraid to extend the helping hand towards others?