@Othinus @Mogsie @karolat I'm guess I'm still optimistic than one can make their mark on the world, but only through living your own life the best way you can (which, in the end, is the only thing you have any real control over.)

taking on the world's burdens (rather than making a project of particular problems you're in a position to solve) effectively deprives one of their own sense of self imo, and I'll posit that taking on some trendy cause célèbre is often a substitute for that sense of self. when said people's confidence is shaken, they often come away realising that they are largely barren; their identify was inextricable from their "mission". among other things, I'll suggest this is partly why depression and suicide is so rampant among "activist" types.