Do u call this selfishness?

Sometime back I saw the trailer and a few scenes of the film “POSEIDON”. One particular scene affected me a lot. First of all, for those who haven’t watched the film and don’t know anything about it (I think most of u would know, but still for my satisfaction), the main storyline is that a big ship turns fully upside down when hit by a giant wave and only a couple of them finally escape death. Well, I also haven’t watched the film but have heard the story. Coming to the point, in a particular scene, a lift would be about to collapse and two guys would be trying to save those caught in the lift. One of the servants aboard will help an old guy to stand on a plank kind of thing so that the rescue team can pull him up. Suddenly the lift will go further down and the plank will also fall down. By then both the servant and the old guy would be hanging in the air with the rescue team holding the old guy’s hand and the servant clinging on to the guy’s leg. Since both of them together would be too much of a weight, the rescue team would ask the old guy to let go of the servant. Otherwise all of them would have to die. First, the guy will hesitate as the servant had helped him out initially. But when he sees the lift going further down and realizing that his life is endangered, immediately he will kick the servant. The old guy would be pulled up safely at the cost of the servant’s life.

Why this scene had an impact on me was that when a do or die situation comes, we cannot think about the pros and cons of what we do or how our deed will affect others. We just go ahead without second thoughts even if it means an ultimate harm to another person. I was just wondering whether the old guy would have a peaceful life after this or would he be constantly haunted by the guilty feeling that he killed a guy who saved him. On second thoughts I feel that I would also have done the same thing if I had been in that guy’s place. Our life is more precious than any value or virtue that we might hold. Of course it doesn’t mean that we need to compromise on our values or virtues always. Only if such do or die situations occur or our life is at stake, the above stand holds good. What do u feel?

Disclaimer: I haven’t watched the movie and I don’t know the context in which this scene comes. So if I had made any mistake in explaining the scene, just leave it. I want your opinions on my view more importantly.