We are brought up to believe that the world is a static thing, that it works under its own logic, and a single individual is basically powerless to change it. My big problem with this assumption is that it’s a self defeating one. If every single person is to believe that they are powerless to change their world, then no one is going to even try, and qed we all are powerless to change it.
I’m not talking about changing the world in little ways, I’m talking about the big changes. If we take on the big problems, we just might actually make headway and perhaps even solve them. If we focus on small ones, well that’s all we’ll solve, guaranteed. I actually just came across a nice speech that articulates a lot of this feeling of mine. It’s more of a research focus, but I think the points are just as applicable: Richard Hamming: You and Your Research