Honestly, it sounds like you might be depressed, but if so I get that too. For the people you helped it got softer, it doesn't have to directly relate to ourselves to be better.

Many of us feel that way sometimes, I have even recently felt that way after a couple of extremely rough years relating to a couple of friends who have needed a lot of support of various kinds (please forgive me, I would much rather not be specific with any of this, not my stories to tell and not the place to tell them).

Then another situation calls for it (I had a big one just today, possibly even the biggest ever one off example, for the sake of an ex no less- although I was furious until I spoke to them about it all, in truth) and I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

The reward; although I feel a little dirty calling it a reward; is that when someone needed help they actually got it instead of just getting fucked over for the nth time. I don't care if my impact is limited or even meaningless, ultimately so am I, and it wasn't to me.

If you don't feel like that, that's okay, you took the step to try anyway and I genuinely respect that. You don't have to give all of yourself, take a step back and look after yourself when you need it, but the world could always do to be a softer place when you feel ready again!

Being nice is an act of rebellion in a cold, uncaring world. If it is your nature to try to do good, don't let other people not being there yet stop you being yourself.

The Shreds by Corporate Hearts has been a big one for me since I first happened across it.

I have been told this my whole life, how our silly little actions didn't mean anything because they were too small or fringe or whatever.

The difference is I can look back across the decades and see a lot of people who I have helped, and who have helped me in turn, things have been directly made better as a result (well, at least some of the time). Meanwhile, their "more realistic" approach centred on voting has seen periods of glacial progress and rapid retreat, leaving them further back than ever before in my lifetime.

What agency or power do you have in government? You are picking from a pre-approved list of would-be rulers.

Edit: and to be clear, I am not telling you not to vote, but for fucks sake stop pretending you have actually done anything until you have actually done anything. Voting is beneath the minimum for that.

That all hinges on them feeling too insecure in their institutional power (particularly military and police, where they have relative popularity) to manipulate the vote without consequence- likely by eroding it through continuing with the same kinds of action and harming yet more people in the meantime.

I am also pretty doubtful of the chances of whomever ends up in power next, upon being handed the machinery of state, actually makes the fundamental changes necessary to get away from the underlying causes that led us here, and honestly your wishlist doesn't either (the results stem from the particular systems and power structures at work, if we don't address them at their root then we haven't done anything, and since this includes the very structures that state political power relies upon...), but those are really only secondary points.

I hope that I didn't imply that you were advocating for that, I was trying to speak purely to the point being made without any assumptions beyond.

În that case, what you are describing there is a system with a strong inherent bias against working class interests. What purpose do the 'change from within the system' party actually serve then? Merely to find ways of keeping the masses mollified without stepping on the toes of power too much?

I mean, I have seen this argument applied in contexts up to and including Tommy Robinson, so it is used to do exactly the thing that it is arguing against too. Too frequently, that feels like the whole point.

Well, that and due to them being investigated for how they handle children's data and access, it had appeared that a fine was heading their way.

The US Revolution was justified as being in protest against taxes, but taxes raised to pay for the Seven Years War which (chronologically, if not causally) began with George Washington ambushing French troops and resulted in colonists gaining significant territory. One of the nowadays less romanticised causes of the revolution itself was the block on westward expansion of the colonies by the British government too, incidentally.

Your outline there also ignores the many wars and atrocities that describe the westward expansion of the USA (and beyond, the Philippines for example) as it actually did happen too, they very much did not begin their imperialism with the start of the cold war.

Keeping the 'lower orders' squabbling amongst themselves is their best chance of maintaining their position, racism and other staples of the right tend to achieve this outcome.

Since many are pushing the narrative surreptitiously anyway, a few decide that they stand to benefit by positioning themselves as figureheads (and ultimately as prospective rulers/kingmakers) in addition to this.

Add into this the capacity for exploitation necessary for someone to become a billionaire; which often involves abstracting people down to numbers and the like in the first place; and...