Oh certainly. But I sincerely doubt that was the person's true intention.
But you're asking as to why people don't keep selfless acts private, well that's because it's good for that stuff to be publisied. One of the things people always have a go at the press for is for printing all the crime figures and the bad things but not the good things. You make a big deal out of charitable acts and it encourages other people to do the same, if they're doing it just to get their ego stroked who cares, that homeless bloke still gets a free meal?
I dunno, it just seems like people use any excuse to discredit people who try and help as oppossed to just sitting on their arses like I do.