The rich man and Lazarus

Whenever I read this text I am always perplexed at how this rich man could ignore the miserable poor man right there at his doorstep. It is impossible for the rich man not to see Lazarus. The dogs wanted to lick the poor man's wounds, so how can the rich man not know of the poor man's existence!
The rich man mirrors us: when we reason out that poor people are poor because they are lazy, incompetent, uncreative ... when we reason out that it is not wrong to be so rich because we have worked hard for it ... when we waste while others literally die of indigence ... when we wash our hands of the responsibility towards others because we reason out that it is the responsibility of the government, of the Church, in short, it's somebody else's business.